Method for improving listening comprehension and working memory skills on a computing device

ABSTRACT

Methodologies for improving a student&#39;s phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, oral and written comprehension are described herein. The method is embodied in a suite of twelve exercises operable on a computing device. The exercises are geared towards training of 1st and 2nd grade students but are not limited to that. The methods present an entertaining screen environment, with target stimulus, and foil or distracter stimulus presented visually, textually, and aurally. The student is required to identify the target stimulus from the distracter stimulus within the context of each exercise. Progress from easier trials to more difficult trials is made as the student successfully completes particular difficulty levels.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/957,886, filed Oct. 4, 2004, entitled “METHOD FOR DEVELOPINGCOGNITIVE SKILLS IN READING”. That application claimed priority fromU.S. Provisional applications: 60/508,597 filed Oct. 3, 2003; and60/569,601 filed May 10, 2004. U.S. Ser. No. 10/957,886 is incorporatedherein for all purposes.

This application is also a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. (Docket SLC.0311), filed Jan. 30, 2006 entitled “METHOD FORDEVELOPING COGNITIVE SKILLS IN READING”, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/957,886, referenced above.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.(SLC.0313) filed on Feb. 8, 2006, entitled “METHOD FOR DEVELOPINGCOGNITIVE SKILLS USING SPELLING AND WORD BUILDING ON A COMPUTINGDEVICE”.

This application is also related to U.S. Patent application Ser. No.(SLC.0314) filed on Feb. 8, 2006, entitled “METHOD FOR IMPROVINGSENTENCE COMPREHENSION, VOCABULARY SKILLS, AND READING FOR MEANING USINGCLOZE TASKS ON A COMPUTING DEVICE”.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to the field of education training inreading, and more specifically to a computer software program forcognitive skills training to help students become better readers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to a computer software program entitled“Fast ForWord Language to Reading” developed by Scientific LearningCorporation. Founded in 1996, Scientific Learning (Nasdaq: SCIL)combines the latest advances in brain research and proprietarytechnology to create products and services that develop learning andcommunication skills. Based on more than 30 years of neuroscienceresearch, Scientific Learning's Fast ForWord® family of products usepatented technology to target the language and reading skills widelyrecognized as the keys to all learning. Each product's interactiveexercises integrate proprietary CD-ROM and Internet technology to createan optimal learning environment that adapts to the level of eachstudent. Patented Web-based tracking tools provide ongoing monitoring ofeach student's progress. In March of 1997, after an extensive fieldtrial with almost 500 children at 35 sites, the Company launched itsfirst Fast ForWord® product, Fast ForWord Language software, an Internetand CD-ROM product that develops the fundamental language skills thatare the building blocks for reading success. This product is describedin the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,927,988 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR TRAINING OF SENSORY AND PERCEPTUAL SYSTEMS IN LLI SUBJECTS”;6,159,014 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRAINING OF COGNITIVE ANDMEMORY SYSTEMS IN HUMANS”; and 6,261,101 entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUSFOR COGNITIVE TRAINING OF HUMANS USING ADAPTIVE TIMING OF EXERCISES”;each of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.Numerous other patents have been issued to Scientific LearningCorporation for its inventions.

The Fast ForWord Language to Reading software builds upon the technologydeveloped by Scientific Learning Corporation, and provides a highlyefficient, targeted workout that isolates and develops LearningMAPs—Memory, Attention, Processing, and Sequencing—in the context ofreading skills that correlate directly to school curriculum standards,including Phonemic awareness; Phonics, Decoding and Advanced Decoding;Spelling and Vocabulary, Word recognition and fluency; and Sentence andpassage comprehension.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method for improving phonemic awarenessin students. The invention is intended for execution on a computingdevice capable of displaying and aurally presenting words and/orphonemes. The method utilizes a number of exercises to train students,the exercises presenting information aurally and visually, and requiringthe student to make selections based on the information presented. Theselections are recorded, with the exercise tracking progress accordingto the selections.

Various embodiments of a system and method for improving listeningcomprehension and working memory skills in the person, e.g., a childstudent, are disclosed.

In some embodiments, a stimulus passage set comprising a plurality ofstimulus passages may be provided, although it should be noted that inother embodiments, the stimulus passages may be organized in any ofvarious ways, i.e., multiple sets, etc. Each stimulus passage preferablyincludes one or more blocks, i.e., blocks of text. A block from astimulus passage from the stimulus passage set may be presented to theperson via a computing device. For example, presenting the block mayinclude aurally presenting the block, and/or textually presenting theblock. In one embodiment, aurally presenting the block and textuallypresenting the block may include highlighting the block one line at atime in synchrony with aurally presenting the block one line at a time.

The person may then be asked a question regarding the block, i.e., viathe computing device. As above, asking the question may include aurallyasking the question and/or textually asking the question. A plurality ofanswers may then be presented to the person via the computing device,where one of the answers is the correct answer to the question. In oneembodiment, presenting the plurality of answers may include presenting apicture illustrating each answer. The person may then be required toselect an answer from the plurality of answers to answer the question,after which a determination may be made as to whether the personselected the correct answer. In one embodiment, the asking, thepresenting the plurality of answers, the requiring, and the determiningmay be performed for one or more additional questions regarding theblock. Thus, for each block presented, the person may be asked one ormore questions, and presented with respective answers for each questionasked.

Additionally, the presenting the block, the asking, the presenting theplurality of answers, the requiring, and the determining may be repeatedfor each block of each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set,where the repeating improves listening comprehension and working memoryskills in the person. In preferred embodiments, the repeating may beperformed a plurality of times to improve listening comprehension andworking memory skills in the person.

The presenting the block, the asking, the presenting the plurality ofanswers, the requiring, and the determining may compose performing atrial for a block. A stimulus passage may include a specified sequenceof blocks, i.e., where each block is a sequential subset of the passage.A unit may include a specified set of trials directed to blocks of oneor more stimulus passages, and a level may include a specified set ofunits.

The repeating the presenting the block, the asking, the presenting theplurality of answers, the requiring, and the determining for each blockof each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set may includeperforming trials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level ofa plurality of levels in a specified order, where successive levelsincrease in difficulty.

In some embodiments, an open unit may refer to a unit that has not beenpassed, and an open level may refer to a level that has not beencompleted. All units may initially be open units, and all levels mayinitially be open levels. Thus, the performing trials in each unit of aplurality of units for each level of a plurality of levels may includeperforming trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units foreach open level of the plurality of open levels. A unit may beconsidered completed when all trials in that unit have been performed. Alevel may be considered completed when all trials in that level havebeen performed. Passing a unit may include successfully performing aspecified percentage of trials in the unit.

In some embodiments, performing trials in each open unit of theplurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of openlevels may include: setting a current level to a first level of theplurality of levels, setting a current unit to a first unit of theplurality of units, setting a current stimulus passage to a firststimulus passage of the plurality of stimulus passages, setting acurrent block to a first block of the current stimulus passage, andperforming trials for the current block of the current stimulus passagein the current unit at the current level. Moreover, if the person failsa block, the block may be repeated until the person passes the block, orthe person fails the block a specified number of times. During therepetition of the block, presenting the plurality of answers to theperson via the computing device may include graying out previouslyselected incorrect answers, where the grayed out answers are notselectable by the person.

In one embodiment, if there are more blocks in the current stimuluspassage, the current block may be incremented to a next block in thecurrent stimulus passage, and trials in the current block performed. Ifthere are no more blocks in the stimulus passage, and there are morestimulus passages in the unit, the current stimulus passage may beincremented to a next stimulus passage in the current unit, the currentblock may be set to a first block in the current stimulus passage, andtrials in the current block performed. If there are no more blocks inthe current unit, a determination may be made as to whether or not theperson passes the current unit.

If the person fails the current unit, the current unit may be repeateduntil the person passes the current unit, or the person fails thecurrent unit a specified number of times, and the current unit may bekept open for later presentation to the person. For example, if theperson passes the current unit after more than one attempt, the currentunit may be kept open for later presentation to the person after allunits have been completed, otherwise, the current unit may be kept openfor later presentation to the person after completion of the currentlevel. If the person passes the current unit, the current unit may beclosed.

If there are more units in the current level, the current unit may beincremented to a next unit in the current level, the current block maybe set to a first block in the current unit, and trials in the currentblock performed. If there are no more units in the current level, thecurrent level may be incremented to a next open level, the current unitmay be set to a next unit in the current level, the current block may beset to a first block in the current unit, and trials in the currentblock performed.

If all levels have been completed, and there are further open units, foreach unit in the further open units: the current unit may be set to anext unit of the further open units, and trials performed for each blockof each stimulus passage in the current unit, where, similar to above,if the person passes the current unit, the current unit may be closed,otherwise, the current unit may be kept open for later presentation tothe person.

In some embodiments, the performing trials in each open unit of theplurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of openlevels may be performed over a plurality of sessions, where eachsuccessive session begins approximately where a previous session ends.Additionally, the sessions may occur a specified number times each day,for a specified number of days.

In one embodiment, the method may include performing an initial trial,where, for example, the presenting the block, the asking, the presentingthe plurality of answers, the requiring, and the determining may bedemonstrated to the person to clearly indicate what is expected of theperson in a trial.

In preferred embodiments, the presenting the block, the asking, thepresenting the plurality of answers, the requiring, and the determiningmay be performed via a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on adisplay of the computing device. For example, the GUI may display astudent indicator, a time indicator, an initiation button, whereby theperson invokes presenting a block in a stimulus passage, a scoreindicator, and/or a passage length indicator, graphically indicating theposition of the current block within the current stimulus passage, amongother GUI elements. The GUI may also display a main character, e.g., ananimated character, where the main character performs the presenting theblock of the stimulus passage, e.g., aurally and/or textually. The GUImay further display one or more secondary characters, possibly animated.For example, the one or more secondary characters may present theplurality of answers to the person, e.g., graphically.

In one embodiment, in response to the determining, a sound may be playedindicating the correctness or incorrectness of the selection.Additionally, or alternatively, the correctness or incorrectness of theselection may be indicated graphically. Points may be awarded based onthe correctness of the selected answer. For example, in one embodiment,awarding points may include incrementing a point total for the personone point at a time for each of the awarded points, playing a sound eachtime the point total is incremented, and displaying each value of thepoint total as the point total is incremented. Moreover, if the correctanswer is selected, the selected answer may be presented aurally, i.e.,said aloud via the computing device.

Additionally, requiring the person to select an answer from theplurality of answers may include requiring the person to: select theanswer with a pointing device, select a button indicating the answer inthe GUI with the pointing device, and/or press one or more keys on akeyboard coupled to the computing device to indicate selection of theanswer. Presenting the block of the stimulus passage may include aurallypresenting the block of the stimulus passage via headphones attached tothe computing device.

Thus, various embodiments of the systems and methods described hereinmay facilitate improvement of listening comprehension and working memoryskills in a person, e.g., a child student.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent upon study of the remaining portions of the specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is block diagram of a personal computing device upon which thepresent invention operates.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computer network upon which the presentinvention operates.

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating the exercises within the program setReading 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a table illustrating the exercises within the program setReading 2 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot at the beginning of Reading 1 according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot at the beginning of Reading 2 according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot at the initiation of the exercise Bear Bags inReading 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot during a warm up (or training) exercise in theexercise Bear Bags in Reading 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is another screen shot during the warm up exercise in theexercise Bear Bags in Reading 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of exercise play in Bear Bags, where thestudent sorts a stimulus phoneme (a picture of a “gear”) into one of twotarget phoneme lunch bags.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of exercise play in Bear Bags, where thestudent sorts a stimulus phoneme (a picture of a “pup”) into one of fourtarget phoneme lunch bags.

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of exercise play in Bear Bags, where thestudent sorts a stimulus phoneme (the word “sat”) into one of fourtarget phoneme lunch bags, pictorially represented.

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a reward animation within the Bear Bagsexercise.

FIG. 14 is a screen shot of a fluency timed trial within the Bear Bagsexercise.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating program flow according to themethod of the Bear Bags exercise.

FIG. 16 is a screen shot of an initial training session in the exerciseBear Bags: More Lunch.

FIG. 17 is a screen shot of a trial with in the exercise Bear Bags: MoreLunch.

FIG. 18 is a screen shot of a more advanced trial within the exerciseBear Bags: More Lunch.

FIG. 19 is a screen shot indicating an incorrect response to a trialwithin the exercise Bear Bags: More Lunch.

FIG. 20 is a screen shot of another trial within the exercise Bear Bags:More Lunch.

FIG. 21 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Flying Fish.

FIG. 22 is a screen shot in Flying Fish of a stimulus word beingpresented.

FIG. 23 is a screen shot in Flying Fish of a target word beingpresented.

FIG. 24 is a screen shot in Flying Fish of a target word that matchesthe stimulus word, being presented.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart that illustrates the method of the exerciseFlying Fish.

FIG. 26 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Fish Frenzy.

FIG. 27 is a screen shot in Fish Frenzy of a target word beingpresented.

FIG. 28 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Magic Rabbit.

FIG. 29 is a screen shot in Magic Rabbit of an initial training trial.

FIG. 30 is a screen shot in Magic Rabbit of a target letter beingdragged onto a blank tile to spell the word “sad”.

FIG. 31 is a screen shot in Magic Rabbit illustrating grayed out lettersthat were incorrectly selected by the student.

FIG. 32 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the exercise MagicRabbit.

FIG. 33 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Magic Bird.

FIG. 34 is a screen shot in Magic Bird of a target letter “st” beingselected to spell the word “stock”.

FIG. 35 is a screen shot in Magic Bird illustrating a grayed out card“sh” which was selected incorrectly, when the target word was “frame”.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the exercise MagicBird.

FIG. 37 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise BedtimeBeasties.

FIG. 38 is a screen shot in Bedtime Beasties during a trial, indicatingcorrect selection of a target word.

FIG. 39 is a screen shot in Bedtime Beasties after the student hascorrectly selected the target word “brush”.

FIG. 40 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the exercise BedtimeBeasties.

FIG. 41 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise LeapingLizards.

FIG. 42 is a screen shot in Leaping Lizards during a trial, indicatingcorrect selection of a target word.

FIG. 43 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Buzz Fly.

FIG. 44 is a screen shot in Buzz Fly during a trial, where a firstpassage is read to the student.

FIG. 45 is a screen shot in Buzz Fly during a trial, where a question isposed to the student, and the answer, along with three foils arepresented.

FIG. 46 is a screen shot in Buzz Fly during a trial, showing anincorrect answer grayed out, and other answer possibilities stillshowing.

FIG. 47 is a flow chart illustrating the method of Buzz Fly.

FIG. 48 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Dog Bone.

FIG. 49 is a screen shot in Dog Bone during a trial, where a firstpassage is presented to the student.

FIG. 50 is a screen shot in Dog Bone during a trial, where a question isposed to the student, and the answer, along with three foils arepresented.

FIG. 51 is a flow chart illustrating the method of Dog Bone.

FIG. 52 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Quail Mail.

FIG. 53 is a screen shot in Quail Mail of an initial trial.

FIG. 54 is a screen shot in Quail Mail of a first type of trial.

FIG. 55 is a screen shot in Quail Mail of a second type of trial.

FIG. 56 is a flow chart illustrating the method of the exercise QuailMail.

FIG. 57 is a screen shot at the beginning of the exercise Ant Antics.

FIG. 58 is a screen shot in Ant Antics of a trial.

FIG. 59 is a flow chart illustrating the method of Ant Antics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The Language to Reading programs that will be described below areintended to be executed on some form of computing device that has avisual display, acoustic presentation, and some mechanism to indicateselection of options. While such a computing device encompasseseverything from PC's, to laptops, to PDA's, and now even cell phones,one skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods of the presentinvention should not be restricted to the particular mechanisms uponwhich they are run. But, to provide a context for discussing the methodsof the present invention, applicant will briefly describe one of thepossible environments in which the methods can be utilized.

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 is shown for executing acomputer program to train, or retrain a student, according to thepresent invention. The computer system 100 contains a computer 102,having a CPU, memory, hard disk and CD ROM drive (not shown), attachedto a monitor 104. The monitor 104 provides visual prompting and feedbackto the student during execution of the computer program. Attached to thecomputer 102 are a keyboard 105, speakers 106, a mouse 108, andheadphones 110. The speakers 106 and the headphones 110 provide auditoryprompting and feedback to the student during execution of the computerprogram. The mouse 108 allows the student to navigate through thecomputer program, and to select particular responses after visual orauditory prompting by the computer program. The keyboard 105 allows aninstructor to enter alpha numeric information about the student into thecomputer 102. Although a number of different computer platforms areapplicable to the present invention, embodiments of the presentinvention execute on either IBM compatible computers or Macintoshcomputers.

Now referring to FIG. 2, a computer network 200 is shown. The computernetwork 200 contains computers 202, 204, similar to that described abovewith reference to FIG. 1, connected to a server 206. The connectionbetween the computers 202, 204 and the server 206 can be made via alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or via modemconnections, directly or through the Internet. A printer 208 is shownconnected to the computer 202 to illustrate that a student can print outreports associated with the computer program of the present invention.The computer network 200 allows information such as test scores,exercise statistics, and other student information to flow from astudent's computer 202, 204 to a server 206. An administrator can thenreview the information and can then download configuration and controlinformation pertaining to a particular student, back to the student'scomputer 202, 204.

The Fast ForWord Reading programs have been separated into two programsets entitled Reading 1 (adapted to 1st grade reading curriculum), andReading 2 (adapted to 2nd grade reading curriculum). Within each programset, a number of program exercises have been created, each of which aredirected at training particular cognitive skills. FIG. 3 provides anoverview of the exercises within program set Reading 1. FIG. 4 providesan overview of the exercises within program set Reading 2. A closeexamination of these Figures reveals that some of the exercises paralleleach other in each of the program sets. That is, Bear Bags in Reading 1has a parallel exercise Bear Bags: More Lunch in Reading 2. Flying Fishin Reading 1 has a parallel exercise Fish Frenzy in Reading 2. MagicRabbit in Reading 1 has a parallel exercise Magic Bird in Reading 2.Bedtime Beasties in Reading 1 has a parallel exercise Leaping Lizards inReading 2. Buzz Fly in Reading 1 has a parallel exercise Dog Bone inReading 2. The exercise Quail Mail is specific to Reading 1. And, theexercise Ant Antics is specific to Reading 2.

The exercises in both of the exercise sets will now be described indetail. The description will provide a general overview of a exercise,including its goals, its features, and a brief description of theexercise. The description will then outline the tasks of the exercise,and will describe the student's interaction in the exercise. Thestimulus sets used to train the student will then be provided. After thedescription, the reader will be referred to the drawings where s/he willbe walked through the exercise play, as if s/he were at the computer,particularly illustrating the novel features of the exercise. Finally, aflow chart illustrating the method of the exercise will be provided. Thedescription of the exercises will begin with the first exercise ofprogram set Reading 1, and will continue until all of the exercises ofReading 1 have been described. The description will then continue withthe first exercise of program set Reading 2, and will continue until allof the exercises of Reading 2 have been described.

Referring to FIG. 5, a screen capture is shown of a startup screen 500for the Reading 1 program set. The Reading 1 program set includes sixexercises 502 including: Bear Bags; Flying Fish; Quail Mail; MagicRabbit; Bedtime Beasties; and Buzz Fly. The startup screen 500 containsa cursor, or selection tool 504, pictures of each of the exercises 502,and an exit button 506. Although not shown, when the screen 500 ispresented, entertaining music is played through the speakers. Thestudent begins one of the exercises by moving the selector 504 on top ofthe exercise grapheme 502, and indicating the selection (e.g., byclicking the mouse). In one embodiment, after a session for one of theexercises is completed, the student is automatically taken to the nextexercise in the set, as appropriate. In an alternative embodiment, thestudent is taken back to the screen 500 for selection of anotherexercise. In this embodiment, any exercises already played during thepresent session are grayed out so that they may not be reselected.

Referring to FIG. 6, a screen capture is shown of a startup screen 600for the Reading 2 program set. The reading 2 program set includes sixexercises 602 including: Bear Bags: More Lunch; Fish Frenzy; Magic Bird;Leaping Lizards; Ant Antics; and Dog Bone. As in FIG. 5, the startupscreen 600 contains a cursor, pictures of each of the exercises 602, andan exit button. Selection of the exercises 602 from the screen 600 issimilar to that described above with respect to FIG. 5. A description ofeach of the exercises will now be provided, beginning with Bear Bags inprogram set Reading 1.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-1: Bear Bags

The goal of this exercise is to improve phonemic awareness,understanding of alphabetic principles (phonics), and decoding ofone-syllable words. In this exercise, the student is asked to help MamaBear sort words (on pieces of toast) into phoneme-based categories (inlunch bags). The exercise develops phonemic awareness along withgrapheme/phoneme associations. The exercise starts with initialconsonants, and progresses to final consonants, short vowels, and longvowels. Initially, sounds that are easy to discriminate will becontrasted; later the contrasts will involve confusable sounds. The samesorting categories will be presented in two stages; initially sortingstimuli are presented aurally with pictures, later they are presentedaurally with text. Because they may be presented as text, the stimuluswords have transparent spellings whenever possible. In the sortingexercise the student will sort words into 1, 2, or 4 bins (lunch bags).The words will be sorted on the basis of the phoneme in the positioncurrently targeted. The target phoneme could be the initial or finalconsonant, or the medial vowel.

The very first time the student works on this exercise, only 1 sortingbin is available for a “familiarization round” of 4 trials only.Otherwise, the student will be presented with either two binsrepresenting two categories, and items presented in blocks of eight, orfour bins representing all four categories from a group, with blocks of20 items. In “Stage 1” a stimulus item is presented—first aurally andthen visually with a picture. The student should recognize the phonemein the target position, and click on the relevant bin to sort the word.The student should master a block of trials (representing a given set ofphonemes in a given position) in Stage 1 before advancing to Stage 2. InStage 1, the student is first presented with 2 bins (block of 8 items)before moving onto 4 bins with items in blocks of 20. In “Stage 2” astimulus item is presented—first aurally and then visually with thewritten word. Items are presented in blocks of 20 with 4 bins only. Afluency round is also provided which will give the student anopportunity to develop speed at recognizing and identifying phonemes andmapping graphemes to phonemes. A countdown timer and other visual cueswill indicate to the student that this is a fluency round. There are twolevels of difficulty in the sound contrasts across bins (i.e., the foilset). An easier level contrasts nonconfusable sounds, whereas a harderlevel contrasts confusable sounds.

When beginning a new unit, the student is required to click an “OR”button. The categories used in the current unit will be presented in thesorting bins on the screen. In Stage 1, the stimulus is represented as apicture, with an aural presentation just before the word to be sortedpops out of a toaster. The student responds by clicking on a categorybin (lunch bag) to sort the word. Sorting bins are labeled with apicture of a sample item, and its written name. The letter(s)corresponding to the target sound are highlighted (in red) in the nameof the sample item. The student can also click on a speaker associatedwith the category to hear the example. Whenever a new category bin orset of bins is displayed, the category's description is aurallypresented, with an accompanying highlight on the lunch bag before thefirst trial begins. For example: For the category initial-/t/, the wordto sort is “toy.” The word “toy” is aurally presented, then a picture ofa toy pops out of the toaster. To complete the trial correctly, thestudent selects the initial-/t/ bin, which is labeled with the writtenword “tub,” and a picture of a bathtub.

In Stage 2, when a student masters a block of categories at Stage 1,they are presented with the same categories at Stage 2. The student isagain required to click the OR button. As before, the stimulus is firstaurally presented, but now the visual stimulus that drops down is awritten word—rather than a picture (for example, [toy]) and the studentresponds by clicking on the correct category to sort the word. Thewritten stimulus words also have the target phoneme highlighted (in thisexample, “t” in “toy” is highlighted). The sorting bins at Stage 2 haveonly the corresponding picture for that category (e.g., pictures of apig, tub, rat, or cub). This is to prevent a simple visual matching ofletter to letter. Instead, the student is encouraged to read thestimulus word, think about the names of the items on the bins, andcompare them phonemically. When this set of sounds is mastered, thestudent can move onto a new set of sounds. The student can also click ona speaker associated with the category to hear the example. Whenever anew category bin or set of bins is displayed (e.g. at the beginning of anew unit), the category's description is aurally presented, with anaccompanying highlight on the bin before the first trial begins.

The Fluency Round occurs after mastery of a block in stage 2. TheFluency round has the same characteristics and functionality as aregular round of trials in Stage 2, with the exception that only theshorter versions of correct standard animations play. A timer on theinterface indicates the amount of time for the fluency round. Thestudent is given 60 seconds to complete the fluency round.

Stimuli:

There are three types of sound targets and a total of 33 phonemiccategories in this exercise. The categories are listed here with theitem that will be used to label the sorting bin for that category:Initial Consonant Final Consonant Vowel B - BED B - TUB Short C - CUPD - BED a - HAT D - DOG G - PIG e - BED F - FIVE M - RAM i - PIG G -GOOSE N - SUN o - DOG H - HAT P - CUP u - CUP J - JUG T - HAT Long K -KITE A - CAKE L - LOG I - KITE M - MOP O - BONE N - NUT E - FEET P - PIGU - TUBE R - RAM S - SUN T - TUB W - WIG

STIMULUS/BIN PRESENTATION STAGE 1 STAGE 2 FLUENCY ROUND STIMULUSAural/Picture Aural/Word Aural/Word BINS Picture/Word Picture Picture

Stimulus words are selected based on several criteria. Each categoryshould have approximately 10 words. And, approximately five words foreach category should be picturable. Whenever possible, the vocabularyshould be at 2^(nd) grade level or lower. All words can be presented astext (either during Stage 2, or in Stage 1 when receiving correctivefeedback). Therefore all stimuli should be transparently spelled CVCswhenever possible. When there are no other words available, somenon-transparent segments, can be included (in fact a few words includeconsonant clusters and digraphs, e.g., teeth, goat, clam). However, thetarget segment should be transparent, in accordance with the followingrules: Each target segment that is a consonant or soft vowel is spelledwith a single letter that is the regular spelling for that sound. Whenthe target segment is a long /A/, /I/, or /O/ it should be spelled withsilent-e, long /U/ can be spelled with either silent-e or [oo], and long/E/ should be spelled with [ee].

Referring now to FIG. 7, a screen 700 is shown. The screen 700 is thebeginning screen for the exercise Bear Bags in Reading 1. The screenincludes the name of the student 702, a selection paw 704, and a cursor706. To begin a trial, the student moves the cursor 706 over theselection paw 704 and indicates the selection, e.g., by clicking themouse. The screen 700 further includes a number of lunch bags 708, anumber of speakers 710, mama bear 712, a score indicator 714, and a timeindicator 716. The lunch bags 708 are sorting bins into which thestudent will sort target phonemes, as will be shown below. The speakers710 allow a student to auditorily replay phonemes that are on thecorresponding lunch bags 708. The score indicator 714 adds points to thestudents score as the student correctly responds to trials. The timeindicator 716 provides a graphical illustration of the relative timeleft for the exercise. Exercise play begins when the student selects theselection paw 704.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a screen 800 is shown. All of the elementsdescribed above with respect to FIG. 7 are present in FIG. 8. The screen800 appears after the student selects the selection paw as in FIG. 7.When s/he does, a first target 820 is presented. In this instance, thetarget is the word “mop”, which is shown with the letter “m”highlighted, indicating that the consonant that the student will berequired to sort is the beginning consonant “m”. A picture of the word“mop” is also included to help the student correctly interpret the word.At the time the picture 820 is presented, the word “mop” is playedthrough the speakers of the computer so that the student associates thegraphical representation (i.e., the grapheme), with the acousticpresentation. And, as mentioned above, if the student wishes to bereminded of what the grapheme represents, s/he may select the speaker810 below the grapheme, and the computer will replay the auditoryprompt.

The first time the student plays Bear Bags, a training stage isinitiated which only shows the student a single target phoneme 820.Then, referring to FIG. 9, a slice of toast 922 is ejected from atoaster 924. The toast contains a grapheme 926—in this instance a “mug”,and the word associated with the grapheme is presented auditorily to thestudent. What is intended is that the student associate that thebeginning consonant of the target phoneme “mop”, which is the letter“m”, is the same as the beginning consonant of the trial phoneme “mug”.The student is then required to select the lunch bag 920 thatcorresponds to the trial phoneme 926. If the student selects the lunchbag 920 that is associated with the trial phoneme 926, then the studenthas correctly responded to the trial. Another trial is then begun byselection of the selection paw, as before.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a screen shot 1000 is shown. In this instance,the student is still in the training mode. But, two target phonemes arepresented: “mop” 1020 (which begins with the letter “m”); and “goose”1028 (which begins with the letter “g”). After presentation (graphicaland aural) of each of the target phonemes 1020, 1028, a trial phoneme1026 is presented. In this instance, the trial phoneme is the word“gear”, which begins with the letter “g”. The student is required toselect the target phoneme 1020, 1028 which begins with the same firstletter as the trial phoneme 1026. In this instance, both “gear” and“goose” begin with the letter “g”. Thus, a correct response occurs whenthe student selects the target phoneme “goose” 1028. When the studentcorrectly responds to a trial, a “ding” is played, thereby indicating tothe student a correct response. In addition, the correct lunch bag 1028is highlighted, and points are added to the score indicator 1014. Ifscheduled, reward animations will occur (further described below). Ifthe student incorrectly responds (e.g., if in this instance, the studenthad selected the lunch bag 1020), a “thunk” is played to indicate anincorrect response, the incorrect lunch bag(s) are grayed out, and thecorrect lunch bag 1028 is highlighted and repeated aurally. Further, thestimulus (or trial) phoneme 1026 is highlighted and aurally repeated.This reemphasizes to the student not only that they incorrectlyresponded, but what the correct response should have been.

Once the initial training has been completed, the student shouldunderstand that what they are to do is to pair stimulus words withtarget words, based on similarities between the words. Initially, thesimilarity is the beginning consonant. But, as training progresses, thesimilarity includes medial vowels, and ending consonants. And, astraining progresses, the differences between the target phonemes becomeless, thereby making the trials more difficult.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a screen 1100 is shown. The screen 1100 is atstage 1 in the program, and shows four target phonemes: jug; hat; log;and pig. The student is required to match the stimulus phoneme “pup”with one of the four target phonemes. As above, the student indicates acorrect selection by selecting the target phoneme “pig” because itbegins with the same starting consonant as “pup”, i.e., “p”. In thisinstance, and for the rest of exercise play in Bear Bags, the number oftarget phonemes is four.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a screen 1200 is shown. In this trial, whatshould be appreciated is that the graphemes 1220 for the target phonemesdo not include the words (e.g., sun, tub, mop, goose), but merelypictorial representations of the words. Further, the stimulus phoneme1222 does not include a graphical illustration of the word (e.g., sat),but simply the word. What the reader is encouraged to appreciate, atthis point, is that during exercise play, the exercise will use eitherthe word, or the graphical illustration of the word, or a combinationthereof, for either or both of the target phonemes and stimulusphonemes.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a screen 1300 is shown. In this screen 1300, anumber of honey bees are peeking out of the lunch bags, and dancing tomusic. Screens such as this one are considered reward animations and areprovided at various times in the program to entertain and amuse thestudent.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a screen 1400 is shown. Screen 1400 is similarto the other screens described above. However, rather than a paw select,there is a timer 1430. In this trial, termed a “fluency” trial, thestudent is encouraged to sort the stimulus phonemes into theirappropriate target lunch bags as fast as they can, as the timer 1430advances. In one embodiment, the timer 1430 counts down from 60 secondsto 0 seconds. An advantage of the fluency trial is that it encouragesthe student to make decisions faster than in the regular trials of Stage1 and Stage 2.

With the above understanding of the screens and aural presentation ofthe exercise Bear Bags, the following will discuss the progression thruthe exercise using various stimulus sets. In one embodiment, thestimulus sets are divided into 16 sets, 8 considered “easy” and 8considered “hard”. More specifically, the 16 stimulus sets are:

Set # (Easy sound contrasts) Initial Consonants 1 t m s g 2 d c r f 3 pl h j 4 b k n w Final Consonants 5 g m b t 6 d n p g Vowels 7 a e i o 8u e i o

Set # (Hard sound contrasts) Initial Consonants 9 b p d t 10 h g k j 11f c s w 12 m n l r Final Consonants 13 d b p t 14 m n g b Vowels 15 a ei o 16 a i o u

Each stimulus set is considered a block, which is a different set offour letters. For example, referring briefly back to FIG. 11, there arefour words that are target phonemes: jug, hat, log, pig. These come fromeasy stimulus block 3, where the letters p, l, h, and j are used in thetrial. And, for each trial, either 2, or 4 target phonemes arepresented. Further, each time the selection paw is presented, a numberof trials are presented, sequentially, using the letters for a selectedblock. In one embodiment, where two target phonemes are presented, fourtrials are provided. And, where four target phonemes are presented, fivetrials are provided. Progression from block to block will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 15, to which attention is now directed.

Flow begins at block 1502, and proceeds to block 1504.

At block 1504, an initial training is provided, displaying just 1 targetphoneme (as shown in FIG. 8), and four trials are provided. This isreferred to as a 1×4 set. Flow then proceeds to block 1506.

At block 1506, the stimulus set (or block) of phonemes to be tested onis set to 1, which is the first block in the easy sound contrasts. Also,the stage is set to 1, which will become clearer below. Flow thenproceeds to block 1508.

At block 1508, the Unit for testing is set to 1. The purpose of the Unitwill become clearer below.

At block 1510, a first trial is presented. Recall from the above, thatthe first trial begins when the student selects the selection paw on thetoaster. At this point, two target phonemes are presented, followed by astimulus phoneme for matching. In one embodiment, during stage 1, unit1, four trials are presented. The student then selects the selectionpaw, and another four trials are presented. Flow then proceeds todecision block 1512.

At decision block 1512 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas passed Unit 1. In one embodiment, to pass Unit 1, the student shouldcorrectly respond to 100% of the 8 trials presented. If they correctlyrespond to the eight trials (in block 1), flow proceeds to decisionblock 1518. However, if they do not achieve 100% success, flow proceedsto block 1514.

At block 1514, a different set of two letters, from block 1, are used topresent 8 more trials. Flow then proceeds to decision block 1516.

At decision block 1516 a determination is made, the same as in decisionblock 1512, as to whether the student has correctly responded to 100% ofthe trials in Unit 1. If so, flow proceeds to decision block 1518. Ifnot, the student is given a total of 3 chances to pass Unit 1, usingBlock 1. If they do, flow proceeds to decision block 1518. If not, flowproceeds to block 1520.

At block 1520, a new block (stimulus set) is opened for testing. But,block 1 is left open and will be repeated later. Flow then proceeds backto block 1510.

At decision block 1518, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has correctly responded to 90% of the trials in Unit 2. In oneembodiment, Unit 2 utilizes four target phonemes, such as those shown inFIG. 11, and presents 20 trials, five at a time. Thus, to get 90%correct, the student should correctly respond to 18 out of the 20trials. If the student does correctly respond to 90% of the trials,another set of 20 trials is presented within the current block. Thestudent is given three chances to pass Unit 2 for the current block. Ifs/he does, flow proceeds to decision block 1522. If s/he does not, flowproceeds to block 1520 where another block is selected, but the currentblock is left open.

At this point, the target phonemes have shown both the picture of aword, and the word itself. In addition, the stimulus phoneme has beenshown with a picture only, and an aural presentation of the phoneme.This combination of picture/text for the targets, and text only for thestimulus, is considered Stage 1.

At decision block 1522, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has correctly responded to 90% of the trials in Unit 2, Stage 2.In one embodiment, Unit 2 utilizes four target phonemes, and presents 20trials, five at a time. Thus, to get 90% of the trials, the studentshould correctly respond to 18 out of the 20 trials. From the lastparagraph, Stage 2 implies that the form of presentation of the trialsshows the picture only for the target phonemes, and not the text, andthe text only for the stimulus phoneme. Of course, other variations orcombinations are possible. And, as above, the student is given is giventhree chances to pass Unit 2 for the current block. If they do correctlyrespond to 90% of the trials, in the present stage, in the present unit,for the current block, flow proceeds to block 1524. If they do notcorrectly respond to 90% of the trials, after three chances, flowproceeds to block 1520 where another block is selected, but the currentblock is left open.

At block 1524, the student enters a 1 minute timed trial, as shown inFIG. 14. Although points are awarded, the students progress is notaffected by the number of correct/incorrect responses in the fluencytrial. Flow then proceeds to block 1526.

At block 1526, the current block is closed. That is, the student hascorrectly responded to 100% of Unit 1, Stage 1 trials, and at least 90%of Unit 2, Stage 1, and Unit 3, Stage 2 trials. Thus, the block used forthese units/stages is closed and will not be repeated within theexercise. Flow then proceeds to decision block 1526.

At decision block 1526, a determination is made as to whether all blockshave been closed. If not, flow proceeds to block 1520 where a trialbegins on the next block. However, if all blocks have been closed, flowproceeds to block 1528 where the program Bear Bags is completed.

What has been described above is one embodiment illustrating a method ofthe present invention to improve a student's phonemic awareness,understand alphabetic principles of phonics, and decode one syllablewords, by progressively testing the student to sort/match, wordsaccording to their beginning and ending consonants, as well as theirmedial vowels. One skilled in the art should appreciate that othercombinations of starting/ending consonants could be used, the number oftarget phonemes presented in each trial could vary, and the number oftrials presented for purposes of progression could vary, all withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. With this in mind,attention is now directed, not at the next exercise in Reading 1, but ata parallel exercise in Reading 2, called Bear Bags: More Lunch. Inorganizing the present description, it was believed that rather thandescribing the exercises in the order that they were played, it might beeasier to comprehend if similar exercises were discussed in the samecontext.

Program Set—Reading 2

Exercise-1: Bear Bags: More Lunch

A goal in the exercise Bear Bags: More Lunch is improve phonemicawareness, understanding of alphabetic principles (phonics), anddecoding of one-syllable words.

In this exercise, the student is asked to help Papa Bear sort words (onpieces of toast) into phoneme-based categories (in lunch bags). Theexercise develops phonemic awareness along with grapheme/phonemeassociations. The exercise starts with initial consonants, thenprogresses to final consonants, short vowels, and long vowels.Initially, sounds that are easy to discriminate will be contrasted,later the contrasts will involve confusable sounds.

In the sorting exercise the student will sort words into 1, 2, or 4 bins(lunch bags). The words will be sorted on the basis of the phoneme inthe position currently targeted. The target phoneme could be the vowelor the initial or final consonant or consonant cluster. The very firsttime the student works on this exercise, only 1 sorting bin is availablefor a “familiarization round” of 4 trials only. Otherwise, the studentwill be presented with either two bins representing two categories, anditems presented in blocks of eight, or four bins representing all fourcategories from a group, with items presented in blocks of 20.

In regular interaction, a stimulus item is presented—first aurally andthen visually with the written word. The student should recognize thephoneme in the target position, and click on the relevant bin (lunchbag) to sort the word. The student should master a block of trials(representing a given set of phonemes in a given position) beforeadvancing to the Fluency Round.

In the fluency round, the task will give the student an opportunity todevelop speed at recognizing and identifying phonemes and mappinggraphemes to phonemes. A countdown timer and other visual cues willindicate to the student that this is a fluency round.

There are two levels of difficulty in the sound contrasts across bins(i.e., the foil set). The easy level contrasts non-confusable sounds,whereas the hard level contrasts confusable sounds.

When beginning a new unit, the student is required to click theselection (e.g., the OR) button. The categories used in the current unitwill be presented in the sorting bins on the screen. The stimulus isfirst aurally presented, and the visual stimulus that drops down is awritten word. The written stimulus words also have the target phonemehighlighted. The student can hear the word again at any time during thetrial by clicking on the OR button.

The sorting bins have only the corresponding picture for that category(e.g., pictures of a pig, tub, rat, or cub). This is to prevent a simplevisual matching of letter to letter. Instead, the student is encouragedto read the stimulus word, think about the names of the items on thebins, and compare them phonemically. When this set of sounds ismastered, the student can move onto a new set of sounds. The student canalso click on the speaker associated with the category to hear theexample. The student can click the word again to hear it, but fewerpoints will be awarded and the trial will not count toward advancement.Whenever a new category bin or set of bins is displayed, the category'sdescription is aurally presented, with an accompanying highlight on themailbox before the first trial begins.

There are three target positions and a total of 53 sound patterncategories in this exercise. The categories are listed below with theitem that will be used to label the sorting bin for that category.Initial Consonant s-blends sc scoop sk skunk sm smile sn snowman spspoon st star sw sweater r-blends br broom cr crab dr dress fr fruit grgrasshopper pr princess tr tractor l-blends bl blue cl cloud fl flowergl glue pl plate sl slate digraphs ch cheese sh shoe th (-v) thumb FinalConsonant doubles ff cliff ll bell ss dress zz fuzz special x fox ckclock ng string blends mp lamp nd hand lf wolf nk skunk ft gift lt beltnt tent st nest digraphs ch peach sh fish th (-v) moth grammaticalendings -ed/Ed/ dented -ing eating -s cats Vowel silent-e a_e cake i_efive o_e phone u_e tube digraphs ai nail ay hay ea leaf ee bee oa goatTerms:

-   -   Categories A sound category is a given phoneme or phoneme pair,        represented by a particular spelling pattern, in a given        position (e.g., single phonemes like initial-/sh/, final-/z/        spelled [zz], long-/E/ spelled [ea], & long-/E/ spelled [ee];        phoneme pairs like initial-/br/ & final-/st/). Position is        specified for consonants only, as consonants can be either        initial or final. All vowel patterns appear in only one position        (usually medial, but final for [ay]).    -   Block Four categories that are presented together at a given        level (bin sets, and the accompanying stimuli). Each sound        category occurs in at least two blocks (one with easy contrasts        and one with hard contrasts).    -   Unit The smallest group of trials to be evaluated for        advancement.    -   Level Difficulty based on confusability of stimulus and foil        phonemes.

A trial is evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correct binto sort the word. If the student makes the correct selection theyreceive points and that trial is counted toward advancement. Otherwisethe trial is failed and the student receives no points. Unit levelevaluation will occur for the 4, 8, or 20 trials presented for eachblock. The student should get 90% correct to pass that block.

For the 2×4 units, students should get 100% correct to pass the block.Students get three attempts to pass each unit. If they pass the 4×5grid, they will get a Fluency Round on that block. Fluency rounds are“bonus” rounds, and they are not evaluated for progression. If studentsfail a 2×4 grid, they will be presented with another 2×4 gridconstructed from the remaining 2 categories. If they fail that 2×4 grid,they transition to the next open block. If students fail a 4×5 grid forany block, they transition to the next open block. If students fail ablock, they should repeat the same block, beginning with the 2×4 unit.They will return to master incomplete blocks at the end of the exercise.

Stimulus Sets of phonemes for Blocks/Bin Sets: EASY Initial ConsonantsFinal Consonants Vowels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 bl cl gl plfl sl nt st ft lt mp nd a_e i_e i_e* fr pr tr gr cr dr lf nk ng ck x ffu_e o_e u_e* sp sw sm sn sk st ss ll zz sh th -ing ee ai ay br sc th chsh th* ch -ed th* ff* ng* -s oa ea oa* HARD Initial Consonants FinalConsonants Vowels 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 bl cl fltr sm sh ff x ng st -s ss u_e oa a_e pl gl sl dr sn th ll ck nk lt th zzo_e ai o_e* br cr fr st sp ch lf ch nd -ed -ing mp ee ea i_e pr gr sw sksc sw* ft sh nt ft* nk* nt* ay u_e* ee*

Referring now to FIG. 16, a screen shot 1600 is shown of an initialtraining screen in the exercise Bear Bags: More Lunch. Similarly to BearBags, the screen includes a toaster with a paw select, a time indicator,a score indicator, speakers for replaying the target phonemes on thelunch bags, and this time, Papa Bear 1602 for making lunches. In theinitial training, a target phoneme 1604 is placed on the 1st lunch box,and an aural presentation is played. In this instance, it states “beginswith the letters that sound like blue, or blouse”. The student is thenshown a stimulus phoneme 1606, which in this instance is the word“blanket. It is the blended initial consonant “bl” that is to be matchedwith the lunch box pictorially represented by the color blue.

Referring now to FIG. 17, a screen shot 1700 is shown of a trial in Unit1, Stage 1 of the program. In this instance, the student is to sort theword “brag”, which contains the initial consonant blend “br” into one ofthe lunch sacks associated with “blue” or “broom”.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a screen shot 1800 is shown of a trial in Unit1, Stage 1 of the program, where four target phonemes are presented. Inthis instance, the target phonemes are “blue”; “spoon”, “fruit”, and“broom”. The correct sort for the stimulus phoneme “frost” is the targetphoneme “fruit” because they both begin with the initial consonant blendof “fr”.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a screen shot 1900 is shown which illustrateswhat occurs when an incorrect response is provided by the student. Inthis instance, the target phonemes were “fruit”, “broom”, “spoon”, and“blue”. The stimulus phoneme that required sorting was “brain”. Thecorrect response should have been “broom”. However, if any of the otherthree target phonemes is selected as the proper sort, a “dunk” isplayed, the three incorrect target phonemes are grayed out, and thecorrect sort is highlighted, along with a display of the word associatedwith its pictorial representation (or grapheme).

Referring now to FIG. 20, a trial similar to that presented in FIGS. 18and 19 is shown on screen 2000. In this instance, the initial consonantblend “sw” is being tested, with the student required to sort thestimulus phoneme “swish” into the proper target phonemes lunch bag. Theappropriate sort is “sweater”. As above, a correct response causes thescore indicator to increase, and a “ding” to be played.

Exercise play progression is similar to that described above in FIG. 15with reference to Bear Bags. However, one skilled in the art shouldappreciate that the blends in the stimulus sets in Bear Bags: More Lunchare more difficult in Reading 2 than in the single consonants/vowelspresented in Bear Bags in Reading 1. In addition, Bear Bags: More Lunchcontains 30 blocks of combinations rather than the 16 presented in BearBags in Reading 1. The student is required to pass through all blocks tocomplete this exercise.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-2: Flying Fish

The goal of this exercise is to improve decoding skills, identificationof sight words, and auditory memory. This exercise builds the wordidentification skills that are necessary for reading fluency. Usingauditory clues, the student is required to remember a spoken word whilewaiting for the matching pronounced (and written) word to be heard (andseen). This exercise also improves working memory by requiring thestudent to remember the sound of the words in order to find the matchingwritten word. Students are also trained on phonological awareness andvisual tracking to reinforce left-to-right reading patterns.

To begin exercise play, as in the other exercises described above, thestudent clicks the OR button to hear a target word then pays attentionto a sequence of written and/or aurally presented words. The studentshould identify the word that matches the target word by clicking on thematching word when it appears.

Stimuli and Presentation Choices are presented in two stages: StimulusPresentation Choices Stage 1 Spoken and Written Spoken and Written Stage2 and Spoken only Written only Fluency

In Stage 1, the “fishing pelican” pronounces a stimulus word. Then aseries of spoken and written target words fly across the screen on fish.The student clicks on the target word when it matches the stimulus word.The student continues doing so until all the words in the set arematched. In one embodiment there are 10 words per set.

In Stage 2, the student works with the same set of words as in Stage 1,but this time the stimuli and choices are presented differently. Theword is only aurally presented (no written component as in Stage 1). Thechoices are presented as written text (no aural component as in Stage1). The student continues to work through Stage 2 until the end of theword set. At the end of Stage 2, the student moves on to Stage 1 with anew set of words, and then onto Stage 2 after Stage 1 is complete. Thiscycle continues with 4 sets of stimuli. At the end of this cycle, thestudent moves on to a Fluency Round.

In the Fluency Round, all 40 words from the previous 4 sets (or 30 fromthe previous 3 sets if final set) are presented in the manner of Stage 2(spoken Stimulus, written choices). All of the words from each set arelumped together into one big group of 40 words, then randomly sampled.This is a timed round of approximately 2 minutes. The rate ofpresentation of the sequence of words is variable: the sequence startsoff slow, then speeds up depending on which stage the student is in(Stage 1 slowest, Fluency Round fastest). In one embodiment, the ratesof Target and Stim Presentation for Stage 1 and 2 are: targetpresentation: 800 ms; stimulus text presentation: 1300 ms.

Progression:

A Unit is the smallest group of trials to be evaluated for advancement.A Set is a group of 10 words presented together. A Round is a group of 4or 5 sets of words. A trial is evaluated as correct if the studentresponds by clicking on the correct word to match the stimulus word. Tosuccessfully pass a unit (a set of 10 words), the student should get 90%of the trials correct. Evaluation occurs at the end of a unit. A listingof the words in each set, and the sets in each round, are located inAppendix A.

Stage 1: Present set of 10 words. Stage 2: Present same set of 10 wordsas in Stage 1. Now go to Stage 1 again with new set of words. Stage 1:Present new set of 10 words. Stage 2: Present same set of 10 words as inStage 1. The student should meet the criteria for Stage 1 before movingon to Stage 2 for any given set of 10 words. Likewise, they should meetthe criteria for Stage 2 in 4 sets, before moving on to a Fluency Round.When a student passes stage 2 on any four units (or the last three),they will get a Fluency Round using words from those units. The FluencyRound is not evaluated for progression—but for points only. If theFluency Round occurs at the end of a session, the student is allowed tocomplete the Fluency Round before the session times out. If the studentexits manually from the Fluency Round, the round will be exitedimmediately. If at the end of the exercise the student returns to repeata Stage 2 for any set of words, they should first progress through Stage1 for that set, even if they met criteria the first time around. If astudent repeats a unit three times without meeting criteria, the unit isskipped and is presented again at the end of the exercise. They thenmove on to the next open unit.

Referring now to FIG. 21, a screen shot 2100 is shown of the environmentfor the exercise Flying Fish. As in Bear Bags, Flying Fish has a studentindicator 2012, a time indicator 2104, a Paw select 2106 (for initiatinga trial), a score indicator 2108, and a main character, in this case afishing pelican 2110. Exercise play begins with the student selecting(“clicking), the Paw 2106.

Referring now to FIG. 22, a screen shot 2200 is shown of a stimulus word2220 being presented to the student. For each trial, the student isrequired to click the Paw 2106 to begin. After s/he does so, a stimulusword 2220 is presented. As shown in FIG. 2200, the stimulus word ispresented graphically, and although not shown, the stimulus word is alsoplayed aurally. After graphical/aural presentation, the stimulus word2220 disappears from the screen. As mentioned above, during Stage 1 ofeach round, the fishing pelican pronounces the stimulus word, and theword is presented graphically. In Stage 2 of each round, the stimulusword is spoken by the fishing pelican, but it is not presentedgraphically.

Referring now to FIG. 23, a screen shot 2300 is shown of a trial inprocess after the stimulus word 2220 was presented. What is particularlyillustrated is that a series of target words 2322 will swim across thescreen, one at a time. The student is required to remember the stimulusword 2220, and then select the stimulus word from the series of targetwords 2322 that swim across the screen. In this trial, the stimulus wordis “have”. And, the target word 2322 that appears on the screen, at thismoment, is “one”. This is not a correct match. Therefore, the studentshould not select the word 2322. If s/he does, then similarly to theother exercises, a “thunk” is played, the word 2322 disappears, nopoints are awarded, and a new trial is begun.

Referring now to FIG. 24, a screen shot 2400 is shown. In this instance,the target word “have” 2424 is swimming across the screen. This word isthe same as the stimulus word presented in screen 2200. Therefore, thestudent should select the target word “have” 2424 before it swims offthe screen. If s/he does, then a “ding” is played, the student isawarded points, and a new trial is begun. If s/he does not select thecorrect target word 2424 before it swims off the screen, a “thunk” isplayed, no points are awarded, and another trial is begun.

Referring now to FIG. 25, a flow chart 2500 is shown which illustratesthe method of the present invention as embodied in the exercise FlyingFish. The method begins at block 2502 and proceeds to block 2504.

At block 2504, the set, stage and round are set equal to 1. Recall fromthe above, that there are 31 sets of 10 words, each of which arepresented twice, first in Stage 1, second in Stage 2. There are 6rounds, the first 3 having 5 sets in each, the second 3 having 4 sets ineach. After the starting set, stage and round is initialized, flowproceeds to block 2506.

At block 2506, a stimulus word is selected for the present set. In oneembodiment, the stimulus word is randomly selected from the present set,with the selection made from the set of words that have not yet beentested on. Once the stimulus word is selected, it is presented to thestudent. If at stage 1, the word is shown, and spoken aurally. If atstage 2, the word is spoken only. Flow then proceeds to block 2508.

At block 2508, target words are presented. In one embodiment, the targetwords swim by, one at a time, although it is possible that multipletargets could be presented on the screen together. The target words areselected from the present set. During the presentation, the studentshould indicate a selection. If the student correctly matches the targetword with the stimulus word, the word is marked “completed” for the set,and another trial is begun within that set. If the student does notcorrectly match the target word with the stimulus word, either byfailing to make a selection, or by selecting the wrong target, thatstimulus word is marked complete, and another trial is begun within thatset. Flow then proceeds to decision block 2510.

At decision block 2510, a determination is made as to whether all of thestimulus words in the present set have been presented to the student. Ifnot, flow proceeds back to block 2506. However, if all of the words in aset have been presented to the student, flow proceeds to decision block2510.

At decision block 2510, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has passed the set successfully. That is, has the student met apredetermined threshold for the present set. In one embodiment, thepredetermined threshold is 90%, or 9 out of 10 correct matches. However,one skilled in the art will appreciate that this could have easily beenset at another fixed percentage (such as 70-100%), or alternatively, agiven number of correct responses. If the student did not “pass” thisset, flow proceeds to decision block 2514. But, if the student did“pass” this set, flow proceeds to decision block 2518.

At decision block 2514, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has attempted to pass the present set 3 times. Again, oneskilled in the art will appreciate that alternative embodiments couldpresent the present set any number of times, from just once, to as manytimes as necessary to “pass” the set. However, it was felt that if astudent attempts a given set, and fails it 3 times in a row, that ratherthan having them continue in that set, it is better to let them move on,and retry that set another day. Thus, if the student has not attemptedthe present set 3 times, all of the completed words in the set aremarked uncompleted, and flow proceeds back to block 2506 whether thepresent set is repeated. But, if the student has attempted the presentset 3 times (and not passed), then flow proceeds to block 2516.

At block 2516, the words in the present set are marked uncompleted, thepresent set is left open, and the set is incremented. Flow then proceedsback to block 2506 where a new set will be presented.

At decision block 2518, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has just correctly passed a set at Stage 2? If not, then flowproceeds to block 2520. If s/he has, then flow proceeds to decisionblock 2522.

At block 2520, the stage is set to Stage 2. What this means, in oneembodiment, is that the student will hear the stimulus word spoken only,without a graphical presentation of the stimulus word. All of the wordsin the present set are marked uncompleted, and flow proceeds back toblock 2506 where the set is again presented.

At decision block 2522, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has completed a round. As above, sets have been grouped togetherinto rounds. A completed round gives the student an opportunity to entera timed trial, called a fluency stage, which groups all of the words inthe sets within a round together. If a round is not complete, flowproceeds to block 2524. But, if the student has completed a round, flowproceeds to block 2526.

At block 2524, the current set is closed, and the set is incremented tobegin a new set. Further, the stage is set back to 1 so the stimuluswords for the new set will be presented both aurally and graphically.Flow then proceeds back to block 2506 for presentation of the new set.

At block 2526 a fluency round is begun. In the fluency round, thestudent is given a timed trial to match as many stimulus words aspossible, with their targets. In one embodiment, the timed trial is 2minutes in length, although other times are possible. The number ofcorrect or incorrect matches do not effect the student's progress in theexercise. Further, all of the words within the sets associated with thepresent round are available for selection as stimulus/target words. Uponcompletion of the fluency round, flow proceeds to decision block 2528.

At decision block 2528, a determination is made as to whether any setsremain open. If not, then flow proceeds to block 2532 where the exercisecompletes. However, if there are open sets, flow proceeds to block 2530.

At block 2530, the next open set is selected. The next open set could bea set that has not yet been tested on. Or, the next open set could be aset that was attempted 3 times, in block 2514, and failed. In eithercase, the student is tested on all open sets until they are passedcorrectly, and closed, at block 2524.

What should be appreciated from the above is that a method has beenshown which presents stimulus words to a student, graphically andaurally, as well as aurally only, and then the stimulus word disappears.A series of target words are then presented, for a period of time, toallow the student an opportunity to remember what the stimulus word was,and then match it with the target word before it disappears. Theparticular arrangement of words within sets, or sets within rounds, orordering of stages, should not be considered as limiting to theinvention, but rather as simply one embodiment of the possiblesuccess/progression through a group of words.

Program Set—Reading 2

Exercise-2: Fish Frenzy

The goal of Fish Frenzy is to improve decoding skills, identification ofsight words, and auditory memory. This exercise builds the wordidentification skills that are necessary for reading fluency. Usingauditory clues, the student is required to remember a spoken word whilewaiting for the matching pronounced (and written) word to be heard (andseen). This exercise also improves working memory by requiring thestudent to remember the sound of the words in order to find the matchingwritten word. Students are also trained on phonological awareness andvisual tracking to reinforce left-to-right reading patterns. The methodof Fish Frenzy is similar to that of Flying Fish described above. Alisting of the stimulus words in each set, and the sets in each roundare included in Appendix A.

Referring to FIG. 26, a screen shot 2600 is shown of the initial screenin the exercise Fish Frenzy. As in FIG. 21, Fish Frenzy includes astudent indicator 2602, a time indicator 2604, a Paw selector 2606, ascore indicator 2608, and a fishing pelican 2610. Elements in FIG. 26function essentially the same as those described above in the exerciseFlying Fish.

Referring now to FIG. 27, a screen shot 2700 is shown of a trial withinthe exercise Fish Frenzy. At this point, the student has begun the trialby selecting the Paw 2606, and a stimulus word “full” has beenpresented. If the student is in stage 1, the stimulus word was presentedboth aurally and graphically. If the student is in stage 2, the stimulusword was presented aurally only. Then, a set of target words beginswimming across the screen. The target word “full” 2724 matches thestimulus word “full” and should therefore be selected by the student, ifa correct response is desired. Game play continues in Fish Frenzy, forthe sets and rounds listed in Appendix A, according to the progressiondescribed above for Flying Fish with respect to FIG. 25. the primarydifference between the exercises Flying Fish, and Fish Frenzy is in thecontent level of the words presented, with Flying Fish using contentthat is at a curriculum level for 1st grade, and Fish Frenzy usingcontent that is at a curriculum level for 2nd grade.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-3: Magic Rabbit

The goal of this exercise is to improve spelling and sensitivity toletter-sound correspondences. This exercise combines spelling andword-building practice. Using a click and drag interface, the studentshould either select the missing letter to complete a partially spelledword or rearrange scrambled letter tiles to spell a word. Items arepresented as minimal spelling pairs where switching one letter turns oneword into another (e.g., hat→bat). In the Beginning Levels, a series ofrounds with restricted stimulus sets will be presented to progressivelyteach all of the target sound-letter correspondences, according to aphonics/spelling instructional sequence. To help build automaticity andgeneralization, the stimulus sets in the Advanced Levels will samplefrom all targeted letters and positions. These will be presented aschains of minimal pairs (e.g., bat, cat, cap, cup . . . ), buildingexperience with word families and the combinatorial nature of ouralphabetic writing system. All stimulus words will beConsonant-Vowel-Consonants (CVCs) with highly regular spellings(3-letters, and, in the beginning level only, 3-letters plus Silent-e).When a letter is needed to complete a new word, it will be chosen from aprincipled array in which the visual and phonetic similarity of foils iscontrolled. There will be two levels of foil difficulty, based on thediscriminability of target and foils.

In the beginning level trials of this exercise, pairs of words arepresented. First, a probe word is presented visually (spelled withletter tiles) and aurally (e.g, bat “bat”). Next, one of the lettertiles in the probe word becomes blank (e.g., bat→_at). Finally, fourletter tiles appear, representing the response choices, and the targetword is presented aurally (e.g., “hat”). The student should select thecorrect letter tile and drag it on top of the blanked out letter tocomplete the spelling of the target word. In Advanced Level trials, aninitial stimulus word is presented aurally, and its tiles appear inscrambled order (e.g., tca→“cat”). The student should rearrange thetiles to correctly spell the word. For the subsequent trials in thatround the word from the prior trial remains on screen, and serves as theprobe word for the next trial. As in the beginning levels, one of theletter tiles in the probe word becomes blank. A response set of 4 lettertiles also appears, and a new stimulus word is presented aurally. Thestudent should select the correct tile to complete the trial. To preventstudents from being exposed to incorrectly spelled words, the incorrectplacement of any letter will not be permitted.

In the initial trial in a round, after the student clicks the OR buttona word is presented aurally. Scrambled letter tiles for a word appear,as do target spaces for those letters. Only the 3 tiles required tospell the word are presented (i.e, no “dummy” tiles are shown). A cardwith a picture that represents the word may also appear on screen. Thestudent can click on the OR button to hear the stimulus word repeated.There will be no penalty for using the OR button to repeat the stimulusword. The student should drag the letters to the correct spaces to spellthe word. If the response is incorrect, a second and third attempt isallowed. A student that gets all the letters correct on the first trywill receive the most points; if a second or third try is needed, thestudent will receive the least amount of points. A failed third attemptis 0 points. The correct answer is shown after a third attempt.

In subsequent trials in a round, the student proceeds in the same manneras in the beginning level trials, with each completed stimulus wordserving as the probe word for the next trial. One of the letter tiles inthe probe word becomes blank. A response set of 4 letter tiles alsoappears, and a new stimulus word is presented aurally. The studentshould select the correct letter and drag it to the correct position tospell the word. If the response is incorrect, a second and third attemptis allowed.

For example: Trial 1) The word “cat” is aurally presented and a pictureof a cat is also on screen. Three letter tiles for “a”, “c”, and “t”appear, as do 3 targets or blank spaces for those tiles to fill. In thiscase, the student clicks and drags the tiles to their appropriatetargets to spell the word “Cat”.

A trial is evaluated as correct and counted toward advancement only ifthe student spells the word correctly on the first attempt. Second andthird attempts can receive points, but are not counted towardadvancement (they are considered “incorrect” for the purposed ofadvancement, even though they can still accumulate points). Exception:Scrambled words (Advanced Levels) are never evaluated for advancement,only for points as described above.

Evaluation of unit: For the beginning levels (1 & 3) evaluation willoccur at the level of a block (20 of the 40 items randomly sampled froma group of four categories). For the advanced levels (2 & 4), evaluationwill occur at the level of a round (10 items in a chain of minimalpairs, which are always presented together). Evaluation will occur whena student completes a unit.

Advancement: Level Stimuli Foils 1 Stimulus words for Level.1 follow aprogressive sequence Fixed list of easy designed to teach aspelling/sound mappings in small, to discriminate manageable sets.Rounds consist of a single probe/stimulus letters word pair. Rounds willbe blocked such that 20 items (20 of the 40 items randomly sampled froma group of four categories), e.g., initial-s, initial-t, initial-m,initial-g) are presented together. (Five categories will be used for thevowel blocks so that four response alternatives are always available.Items from the extra category will be unscored.) The response setconsists of the same four target letters (e.g., s, t, m, g) across theentire block. 2 Stimulus words no longer grouped to represent a reducedset Fixed list of easy of letters. Spelling patterns within rounds, andorder of to discriminate rounds are unconstrained. (sample 20 wordchains from list, letters any order) 3 Same as Level 1 Fixed list ofhard to discriminate letters 4 Same as Level 2 (sample remaining 20 wordchains from list, Fixed list of hard any order) to discriminate letters

Referring to FIG. 28, a screen shot 2800 is shown of the initial screenwithin the exercise Magic Rabbit. As in the other exercises, this screen2800 contains a student indicator 2802, a Paw select 2804, a scoreindicator 2806, and a time indicator 2808. In addition, the screen 2800contains a central character, the Magic Rabbit 2810. Operation of theseelements is similar to those described above in the other exercises. Atrial begins when the Paw 2804 is selected.

Referring to FIG. 29, a screen shot 2900 is shown which illustrates thebeginning of a trial. In this instance, three blocks 2920 are presented,and the corresponding word “bad” is aurally presented. Once this ispresented, the letter “b” disappears.

Referring to FIG. 30, a screen shot 3000 is shown which illustrates theprogression of the trial of FIG. 29. Once the letter “b” disappears, theword “sad” is aurally presented. And, a graphical image 3022 is providedto illustrate the word “sad”. Further, four letters 3024 are provided asoptions for the student to fill in below to spell the word “sad”. Inthis instance, the student is given the choices of “m”, “s”, “t”, and“g”. The student should rely on their memory of the aural presentationof the word “sad” and their understanding of phonemes, to correctlyselect from the letters 3024 to spell the word “sad”. In one embodiment,if the student does not remember the word they are trying to spell, theycan select the Paw 2804 to repeat the word. But, if they do so, thenumber of points awarded will be less.

Referring to FIG. 31, a screen shot 3100 is shown which illustratesanother trial, where the student is required to spell the word “tin”. Inthis instance, there is no graphical hint to help the student rememberthe word they are trying to spell. And, in this instance, the studenthas tried to spell the word using the letters “m” and “s”, and has beenunsuccessful. When a student incorrectly selects a letter, a “thunk” isplayed to indicate the incorrect letter, and the letter is grayed out sothat it may not be reselected. Thus, two possibilities remain for thestudent: the letter “t” and the letter “g”. If the student selects theletter “t” points are awarded, but the student does not advance in thegame (i.e., because of the two incorrect responses). If the studentselects the letter “g” no points are awarded, the “t” is shown to be thecorrect response, and a new trial is begun.

Referring to FIG. 32, a flow chart 3200 is shown which illustrates themethod of the exercise Magic Rabbit. Flow begins at block 3202 andproceeds to block 3204.

At block 3204, an initial training is provided. More specifically 4trials are given to the student, particularly illustrating what they areto do, which is to drag a target letter (or tile) to a blank title nextto other letters, to spell the word that was aurally presented. Thestudent remains in block 3204 until they understand what they are to do.Flow then proceeds to block 3206.

At block 3206, the Unit is set to 1, and the Level is set to 1. In oneembodiment, there are 40 Chains of 10 words (see Appendix A), where eachword has three easy targets, and three hard targets. At level 1, eachtrial within a chain is presented to the student in the order shown, butthe chains are randomly selected from a group of categories (e.g.,initial-s, initial-t, initial-m, initial-g). There are 20 trials in eachunit (20 items randomly selected from 40 items within 4 categories).Presentation of each trial is as described above with respect to FIGS.30-31. After 20 trials are presented, and the response recorded, flowproceeds to decision block 3210.

At decision block 3210 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas passed the unit. In one embodiment, the student should correctlyspell 18 out of 20 trials, or correctly respond to 90% of the trials inorder to pass a unit. Further, a student is given three opportunities topass a unit. If they do not pass a unit the first time, it is repeated.If they do not pass it a second time, it is repeated. If it is notpassed a third time, flow proceeds to block 3212. However, if they dopass a unit, flow proceeds to decision block 3214.

At block 3212, the present unit is left open, which means that thestudent will have to repeat the unit at a later time. In one embodiment,the unit is left to the end of the exercise where the student shouldreturn to all units still open, (i.e., all the units not passed duringnormal progression), and repeat the units until they are passed. Flowthen proceeds to decision block 3214.

At decision block 3214, a determination is made as to whether all unitsat the present level have been completed (other than the ones left openin block 3212). If not, flow proceeds to block 3216. Otherwise, flowproceeds to block 3218.

At block 3216, the unit number is incremented. At level 1, there are 8units with twenty trials in each unit. After the unit number isincremented, flow proceeds back to block 3208 for presentation of trialsin the new unit.

At block 3218, the student has passed all units of a set level (1 or 3).The next level (2 or 4) is therefore opened. Flow then proceeds to block3220.

At block 3220, a new unit is selected for the new level (2 or 4). Inlevels 2 or 4, there are 20 units (from the 40 chains) with just 11trials in each unit—the first trial of each unit not counted). At level2, stimulus words are no longer grouped to represent a reduced set ofletters. And, the spelling patters within rounds, and the order ofrounds are unconstrained. Units are selected randomly with trials in aunit presented in order. Unit 2 utilizes the easy to discriminateletters. The only difference between unit 2 and unit 4 is that unit 4utilizes the list of hard to discriminate letters. Once the new unit isselected, flow proceeds to block 3222.

At block 3222, the trials are presented to the student. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 3224.

At decision block 3224, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has passed the unit. In one embodiment, the student shouldcorrectly drag 9 out of 10 (or 90%) of the target letters to the blanktile, to spell the aurally presented word. And, as above, the student isgiven three chances to pass the unit. If they do not, flow proceeds toblock 3226. However, if they pass the present unit, flow proceeds todecision block 3228.

At block 3226, the present unit is left open. Flow then proceeds todecision block 3228.

At decision block 3228, a determination is made as to whether all 20units have been completed. If not, flow proceeds to block 3230.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 3232.

At block 3230, the unit number is incremented. Or rather, the presentunit is closed, and the next unit is randomly selected from the list ofremaining units. Flow then proceeds back to block 3222 for presentationof the next unit.

At block 3232, the next level is open. If the student is currently atlevel 2, the next level is level 3. In one embodiment, level 3 is thesame as level 1, but, the foils used are from the list of hard todiscriminate letters. Flow then proceeds back to block 3208 forpresentation of a new unit at level 3. However, if the level that ispresently open is level 4, then the student has proceeded through alllevels. Flow therefore proceeds to decision block 3234.

At decision block 3234, a determination is made as to whether any unitsremain open. If not, flow proceeds to block 3238 where the exerciseends. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 3236 where the method isrepeated for all of the open units, until passed.

Program Set—Reading 2

Exercise -3: Magic Bird

The goal of the exercise Magic Bird is to improve spelling andsensitivity to letter-sound correspondences, with a focus on themulti-letter units typically taught in curriculum for 2nd gradestudents. This exercise combines spelling and word-building practiceapplied to spelling patterns and word families. The task is designed toput an emphasis on word families and multiple-letter spelling patternssuch as blends and digraphs. The student should select the missing onsetor rime to complete a partially spelled word or should make as many realwords as possible by pairing onsets and rimes from a grid. The rabbitmagician does card tricks that present the student with the answerchoices. In the beginning levels, a series of rounds with restrictedstimulus sets will be presented to progressively teach all of thetargeted spelling patterns, according to a phonics/spellinginstructional sequence. In the advanced levels students master thosespelling patterns as they build sets of words that belong to common (andless common) word families. Targeted spelling patterns include consonantblends and digraphs (e.g., stop, fish), vowel digraphs (e.g., speed),and simple grammatical endings (e.g., fishing). The instructionalsequence-and selection of targeted spelling patterns is informed by L.C. Moats' “Spelling Scope and Sequence Chart.”

In the Beginning Levels (Teaching Pairs) of this exercise, the studentshould select the missing onset or rime to complete a partially spelledword. First, a probe word is presented visually and aurally (e.g.“name”). Next, part of the probe word drops off and is replaced by ablank (e.g., name→_ame). Finally, four tiles appear with differentletter combinations (e.g., “bl”, “fr”, “sp”, br”) and the target word ispresented aurally (e.g., “blame”). The student should select the correcttile (by clicking on it) to complete the spelling of the target word.

In Advanced Levels (Family Matches), students should make as many realwords as possible by matching a partially spelled stimulus word withseveral onsets or rimes from a 4- or 9-tile grid. (e.g., the stimulusrime_ate might be presented along with an onset response grid of dr_,pl_, gl_, sh_, st_, sl_, br_, cr_, v_). Each time the student clicks ona tile that makes a real word, the assembled word is presented visuallyand aurally. The student continues working with this grid until allpossible word combinations have been presented, or until an incorrectselection is made.

Trial (Beginning levels): After the student clicks the OR button, aprobe word is presented visually and aurally. Next, the beginning or endof the word drops off and is replaced by a space. Next, the stimulusword is presented aurally and four tiles showing different lettercombinations (onsets or rimes) appear, one of which fills the blank inthe partial word to spell the stimulus word. The student is asked toclick the correct letter combination to correctly spell the word. If theresponse is incorrect, a second and third attempt is allowed. Note: Forthe block of trials in which the spelling pattern is a morphologicalending, this sequence changes as follows: the probe word is presentedvisually with a blank already at the end. The probe word is notpresented aurally. The rest of the procedure is the same, but one optionwill always be a blank tile, and the probe and stimulus words willsometimes be identical (there will be a dummy blank, but it will not be“filled-in”).

Trial: (Advanced levels) After the student clicks the OR button, apartially spelled word stimulus appears along with a grid of possibleresponses. The stimulus will be either an English onset (consonantalword beginning) or a rime (a word ending consisting of a vowel, usuallyfollowed by a consonant). The responses will be the complementary wordpart, either onsets or rimes (e.g., if the stimulus were bl_, theresponse set could be_ade,_if,_ude,_ock). All response options will belegal letter strings that do occur in that position in some English word(rimes can either appear as rimes or as entire words, e.g., “eve”). Nofoil word will be a homophone of a common English word (e.g, “treet,”“mune,” “thay”). The response grid will consist of a varied number ofcorrect responses (ones that combine with the stimulus to make trueEnglish words, like “block”) and incorrect responses (ones that makenon-words when combined with the stimulus, like “blif”). A grid shouldalways include at least one correct response, but not more than 60% ofthe grid (i.e., 1-2 correct for a 4-tile grid, and 1-5 correct for a9-tile grid). The student continues working with this grid until allpossible word combinations have been selected, or an incorrect selectionis made. In either of these instances, the grid will automaticallyclose. Presentation Grid Minimum Level Mode Spelling Pattern Foil SetBlocks Items Grids Size Trials 1 Teaching initial easy 6 120 — — 120Pairs 2 Teaching final easy 5 100 — — 100 Pairs 3 Teaching vowel easy 360 — — 60 Pairs 4 Teaching morph. easy 1 20 — — 20 Pairs ending 5Teaching initial hard 6 120 — — 120 Pairs 6 Teaching final hard 5 100 —— 100 Pairs 7 Teaching vowel hard 3 60 — — 60 Pairs 8 Teaching morph.hard 1 20 — — 20 Pairs ending 9 Family mixed — — — 81 small ˜122 Matchesgrid 10 Family mixed — — — 81 large ˜243 Matches grid

Stimulus Categories with Blocking: Easy Init Fin Med 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 bl cl gl pl fl sl nt st ft lt nd a_e ai ay fr pr tr gr crdr lf nk ng ck x oa o_e i_e st sw sm sn sk sp ss ll zz sh th u_e ee eash sc th ch br th* ch ff mp nd* ll* e i u Hard Init Fin Med 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 bl cl fl tr sm sh ff x ng st lt a_e ee eapl gl sl dr sn th ll ck nk ss mp o_e ay oa br cr fr st sp ch lf ch nd zzll* i_e u_e ai pr gr sw sk sc sw* ft sh nt th nt* i u e

In the beginning levels, there are two kinds of trials: regular andfeedback. In a regular trial, a new stimulus item is presented and theuser makes an initial response. If a regular trial is failed, the userwill have as many as two feedback trials (additional attempts at thesame item). In the advanced levels, each stimulus item is paired with avariable number of correct responses. Each user response constitutes atrial. When a new grid is presented, the user can have up to 5 regulartrials. If a trial is failed, the grid will be represented up to twotimes, and all trials are learning trials. Learning trials never countfor progression, and are awarded fewer points.

In the advanced levels (Family Matches) several words from the same“word family” will be presented simultaneously, using a single stimulusstem, and a grid of response options. Small grids will have 4 responseoptions including a random number of between 1 and 2 correct responses.Large grid will have 9 response options, including a random number ofbetween 1 and 5 correct responses. Each of the 81 grids (or wordfamilies) will be presented, in random order, at both the small grid andlarge grid levels.

Referring now to FIG. 33, a screen shot 3300 is shown of an initialscreen in the exercise Magic Bird. The screen 3300 includes elementssimilar to the other exercises described above including a studentindicator 3302, a Paw select 3304, a score indicator 3306, and a timeindicator 3308. In addition, the screen 3300 includes a Magic Bird 3310.The Magic Bird 3300 deals out cards (not shown) which will be used toimplement the method of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 34, a screen shot 3400 is shown of a trial withinthe exercise. In this instance, a first word has already been presented,graphically and aurally, which rhymes with the word “stock”. Then, thetarget word “stock” is presented aurally, and the end part of the word“stock” is presented in card 3420 as “ock”. A blank card 3422 isprovided as a space to hold a selected card from one of the four cards3424. In this instance, the card “st” should be selected to spell theword “stock”. If the student selects “st”, a ding is played, the card“st” is placed on top of the blank card 3422, and the word is combinedtogether into a single card to illustrate a correct match. Additionally,the student receives points for the correct selection.

Referring now to FIG. 35, a screen shot 3500 is shown illustrating anincorrect selection during a trial. More specifically, the target wordthat has been aurally presented is the word “frame”. In the trial, thestudent incorrectly selected the card “sh” 3530. When a student selectsan incorrect card, a “thunk” is played, the card is grayed out, and thestudent is given another opportunity to make a correct selection.Further, if the student has forgotten the word s/he is intended tospell, s/he may re-select the Paw and have the target word aurallypresented again. If the student makes an incorrect selection, and/or ifthe student chooses to replay the target word, points may be awarded,but further selections will not count towards progression in the game.

Referring now to FIG. 36, a flow chart 3600 is shown illustrating themethod of the present invention. The method will utilize the below tableto show the flow through the exercise Magic Bird, for the stimulus setprovided in Appendix A. Level Mode Spelling cat. Foils Blocks ItemsGrids Size Min. Trials 1 T. Pairs Initial easy 6 120 — — 120 2 T. PairsFinal easy 5 100 — — 100 3 T. Pairs vowel easy 3 60 — — 60 4 T. Pairsmorph. ending easy 1 20 — — 20 5 T. Pairs initial hard 6 120 — — 120 6T. Pairs final hard 5 100 — — 100 7 T. Pairs vowel hard 3 60 — — 60 8 T.Pairs morph. ending hard 1 20 — — 20 9 F. Matches mixed — — — 81 small˜122 10 F. Matches mixed — — — 81 large ˜243

The method begins at block 3602 and proceeds to block 3604.

At block 3604, an initial training is provided, similar to that providedin the exercise Magic Rabbit. That is, a word is presented graphicallyand aurally, then split apart, then a rhyming word is presented aurally,and the student is required to spell the presented word by selecting theappropriate missing letter(s). In Magic Bird, however, the student isnot required to drag the letter to the open space. Rather, the studentis simply required to click on the letter. Flow then proceeds to block3606.

At block 3606, the level is set equal to 1, and all the blocks for thatlevel are opened. Flow then proceeds to block 3608.

At block 3608, one of the open blocks at the current level is selected,and a trial is presented for that block. Flow then proceeds to decisionblock 3608.

At decision block 3608, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly spelled the target word. If s/he did, flow proceeds todecision block 3612. If s/he did not, then flow proceeds to decisionblock 3610.

At decision block 3610, the student is given three opportunities toselect the correct spelling of the target word. As above, if anincorrect letter(s) is selected, they are grayed out, and the remainingletters are available to choose from. If the student correctly spellsthe word in 3 tries or less, flow proceeds to decision block 3612.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 3611.

At block 3611, the correct answer is shown. Flow then proceeds todecision block 3612.

At decision block 3612, a determination is made as to whether all of thetrials in the present block have been presented. First, the presenttrial is marked complete. Then, if other trials remain, flow proceedsback to block 3608 for presentation of another trial. But, if all trialsin the present block have been presented, flow proceeds to decisionblock 3614.

At decision block 3614 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas successfully passed the block. In one embodiment, the student isrequired to pass 90% of the trials in a block, but other measures ofsuccess may be used. The student is given three opportunities to passthe present block. If the student has not passed the block, flowproceeds to block 3616. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 3618.

At block 3616, as in the other exercises, the present block is leftopen, and will be repeated at the end of the exercise. That is, beforecompleted the exercise, the student should pass all of the blocks at alllevels. But, if they are unable to do so, after three attempts, theblock is left open, and will be returned to on another day, aftercompleting the other blocks.

At decision block 3618, a determination is made as to whether thepresent block is the last block at the current level. If it is not, flowproceeds to block 3619. However, if it is the last block in the currentlevel, flow proceeds to decision block 3620.

At block 3619, the present block is closed, and the next block in thecurrent level is selected for training. Flow then proceeds back to block3608 for presentation of a trial in the new block.

At decision block 3620, a determination is made as to whether the nextlevel is level 9 or 10. If it is not, flow proceeds to block 3621. But,if the next level is level 9 or 10, flow proceeds to block 3622.

At block 3621, the level is incremented. Flow then proceeds to block3619 for selection of a block in the next level.

At block 3622, a different training is presented for levels 9 and 10. Inlevels 9 and 10, several words from the same “word family” are presentedsimultaneously, using a single stimulus stem, and a grid of responseoptions is provided. Small grids have 4 response options including arandom number of between 1 and 2 correct responses. A large grid willhave 9 response options, including a random number of between 1 and 5correct responses. Each of the 81 grids (or word families) arepresented, in random order, at both the small grid and large gridlevels. Each grid will be evaluated for 100% correction to pass. Failedgrids are presented up to 2 more times at the end of the level.

As in the above exercises, after the student has completed the processshown in FIG. 36, all open blocks are repeated until successfullypassed. At that point, the exercise ends.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-4: Bedtime Beasties

In the exercise Bedtime Beasties, the goal is to improve sentencecomprehension, vocabulary skills, and reading for meaning. This exerciseuses the “cloze task,” in which a written and aurally presented sentencehas a word missing. From four response options, the student shouldselect the correct picture, word, upper or lower case letter, orpunctuation mark to complete the sentence.

More specifically, the student is asked to show that he or sheunderstands the meaning of a sentence by completing a doze(fill-in-the-blank) task. Vocabulary covered constitutes a core set ofnouns including foods, animals, clothing, classroom items, and modes oftransportation. End of sentence punctuation and the capitalization ofinitial words, names, and the pronoun “I” are also covered in thisexercise. Participation builds vocabulary skills, knowledge ofpunctuation and capitalization rules, working memory, and awareness ofsentence structure. Brief passages and individual sentences are used toprovide contexts, with both fiction and non-fiction included. As thestudent gains mastery, sentence length increases and reading supports(e.g., voice-over, pictures) are reduced. Many of the decoding/spellingwords and sight words taught in other exercises are presented here, inthe context of sentences that demonstrate their meanings and syntacticroles.

In operation, a sentence is presented (text+aural or just text) with ablank indicating where a word is missing. The four response options arepresented then in an area below the sentence The student selects thecorrect word or picture+word to complete the sentence. Granny elephantreads Baby elephant a story. The sentences are presented on a windowshade, and the responses are available at the bottom of the screen. Thesentences vary in length, depending on level (range: 4-19 words; mean:11 words). Some sentences stand alone, and others are presented insequences making up a brief fiction or non-fiction passages. Passagesare 4, 5, or 6 sentences long. To help the student know whether they arereading part of a story or a stand alone sentence, there will be apassage length indicator at the bottom of the window shade. The passagelength indicator will show a row of “page” icons mirroring the number ofsentences (1, 4, 5, or 6), and highlighting the position of the currentsentence within the passage.

The scope of the words includes mostly nouns, with a few attributes,prepositions, and verbs. It also includes punctuation andcapitalization. Levels of difficulty are created by manipulating Texttype (story and single-sentence), Length of sentence (short [mean: 8.1]and long [mean: 14.5]), Response type (picture+text, text-only,capitalization, punctuation), Stimulus type (aural+text and text-only).After the student clicks the OR button, a sentence with a missing wordor punctuation will appear on screen, along with four response options.If there is aural presentation, the blank created by the missing word ismarked by a “blank” sound effect and a visual highlighting of the blankmarker. The student selects the correct word or word+picture from thefour response options to complete the sentence.

Progression:

Terms:

-   -   Level: Determined by stimulus type, response type, text type,        and sentence length.    -   Unit: A unit is always the smallest group of trials to be        evaluated for advancement. In this case the unit consists of all        the trials in a category of a given level.        Stimulus Type:    -   1. Aural+Text Stimuli presented aurally and as text    -   2. Text Stimuli presented in text-only format; very easy to read        Response Type:    -   1. Pictures/Text Responses are pictures with text    -   2. Text Responses are easy sight words; clearly wrong foils    -   3. Punc/Cap Responses are letters, words, punctuation marks        Content Type:    -   3. Stories Multiple items that create a passage—presented in a        block Passages (stories) are presented in random order.    -   4. One-liners Facts, puzzles, etc.—presented in random order        Stimulus Length:    -   1. Short Sentences are 10 words or less (<=9 for text sentences)    -   2. Long Sentences are 13 words or more (>=11 for text sentences)

Difficulty Levels: Overview Stimulus Content Difficulty Total Type FoilType Type Length Level Items Aural + Text Pictures + Text Stories Short1 20 Long 2 20 One-Liners Short 3 20 Long 4 20 Text One-Liners Short 520 Long 6 20 Punc/Cap One-Liners Short 7 20 Long 8 20 Text Pictures +Text Stories Short 9 20 Long 10 20 Text One-Liners Short 11 20 Long 1220 240

Referring to FIG. 37, a screen shot 3700 is shown of an initial screenin the exercise Bedtime Beasties. As in the other exercises, thisexercise includes a student indicator 3702, a Paw select 3704, a scoreindicator 3706, and a time indicator 3708. In addition, Granny 3710 isprovided to read stories to the baby elephant.

Referring now to FIG. 38, a screen shot 3800 is shown of a trial withinthe exercise. After a student selects the Paw, a shade 3820 unfolds andGranny reads a sentence from a story. Somewhere in the sentence is ablank 3822 that the student is required to fill in. Beasties from underthe bed present a number of options 3824 to complete the sentence. Inthis instance, the correct word to complete the sentence is brush.

Referring now to FIG. 39, a screen shot 3900 is shown illustrating thecorrect selection made in FIG. 38. More specifically, the correct answerselected by the student is placed into the sentence, and the correcttile is highlighted to show the correct answer. As in the other games, a“ding” is played, and the score is incremented. If an incorrect answeris selected, a “thunk” is played, and the correct answer is shown.

As shown above, there are twelve levels within Bedtime Beasties, varyingin difficulty between the length of the sentences and/or stories. Inaddition, in levels 1-8, the stimulus provided to the student is bothaural and graphical (text), whereas in levels 9-12, the stimulusprovided is text only.

Referring now to FIG. 40, a flow chart 4000 is provided illustrating themethod of the exercise Bedtime Beasties. Flow begins at block 4002 andproceeds to block 4004.

At block 4004 a training trial is presented. Flow then proceeds to block4006.

At block 4006, the level for training is set equal to 1. Flow thenproceeds to block 4008.

At block 4008, a trial is presented to the student. As above, thisindicates that a sentence (or story) is read to the student, with orwithout pictures depending on the level, and the student is required tofill in the blank. The students correct or incorrect response isrecorded. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4010.

At decision block 4010, a determination is made as to whether all trialswithin a level have been presented. If not, flow proceeds back to block4008 for presentation of another trial. If the last trial in a level hasbeen presented, flow proceeds to decision block 4012.

At decision block 4012, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has passed a level. In one embodiment, the student is requiredto correctly respond to 90% of the trials. Since each level has 20trials, the student should correctly respond to 18 out of 20 trials.They are given three opportunities to pass each level. If they do notpass the first time, the level is repeated. If not passed on the 2ndtry, the level is repeated. If not passed on the 3rd try, flow proceedsto block 4014. If however, the student passes the level, flow proceedsto block 4016.

At block 4014, the level is kept open to allow the student to retry thelevel at the end of the exercise. Flow then proceeds to block 4020.

At block 4016, the present level is closed. Flow then proceeds todecision block 4018.

At decision block 4018 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas passed all levels in the exercise. If not, flow proceeds to block4020. If s/he has, then flow proceeds to block 4022.

At block 4020, the level is incremented. Flow proceeds back to block4008 for presentation of a trial within the new level.

At block 4022, all levels have been completed, but if there are anylevels that were not passed, and thus still open, they are repeated.After those are passed, flow proceeds to block 4024 where the exerciseends.

Program Set—Reading 2

Exercise-4: Leaping Lizards

The goal of this exercise is to improve vocabulary skills, sentencecomprehension, and knowledge of word and sentence structure. Thisexercise uses a type of doze task, presenting written sentences thathave a word, upper or lower case letter, or punctuation mark missing.The student should select the correct word, letter, or punctuation markto complete the sentence from four choices.

The student is asked to show that he or she understands the meaning of asentence by identifying which of four choices completes that sentence.Participation builds vocabulary and awareness of word and sentencestructure. Basic rules in capitalization and punctuation, syntax, andinflectional morphology are covered. Both individual sentences and shortpassages (original fiction and nonfiction) are used for the contextsentences. One longer passage is also included, that gives an informallesson on grammatical concepts such as nouns & verbs, vowels &consonants, compound words, and syllables. After the student clicks theOR button, a sentence with a missing word, letter, or punctuation willappear on screen. (In levels 1 and 2, the sentences will also bepresented aurally.) Four choices to complete the sentence also appear onscreen. (In levels 1 and 2, the responses do not appear until the auralpresentation is complete. In all other levels, the responses appearsimultaneously with the stimulus sentence.) The student selects thecorrect choice to complete the sentence. The student selects from thefour choices to complete the sentence. Some sentences stand alone, andothers are presented in sequences making up a fiction or non-fictionpassages. Most passages are just 5 or 6 sentences long, but one passageis 40 sentences long. To help the student know whether they are readingpart of a story or a stand alone sentence, there will be a passagelength indicator at the bottom of the window shade. The passage lengthindicator will show a row of “page” icons mirroring the number ofsentences (1, 5, 6, 8, or 12), and highlighting the position of thecurrent sentence within the passage. With respect to re-entry and thepassage length indicator, the 40 sentence passage is broken into 4“chapters” of 8 or 12 sentences (the 4 chapters will always be presentedin sequence). Block Sub Stimulus Across Total Category Cat Level TypeLinguistic Target Levels Items Vocabulary V1 1 Aural + Text Top 200 highfrequency words No 20 V2 2 Aural + Text Top 200-400 high frequency wordsNo 20 Usage: U1 3 Text Capitalization: Initial word Yes 20 PunctuationU2 4 Text Capitalization: Proper noun Yes 20 & Capitals U3 5 TextPunctuation: Sentence end Yes 20 Syntax: S1 6 Text Tacit: Easy foils(diff root) No 20 Parts of S2 7 Text Tacit: Hard foils (same root) No 20Speech S3 8 Text Explicit labeling No 20 Morphology: M1 9 Text Pluralnoun/verb: regular No 20 Inflectional M2 10 Text Verb tense: regular No20 M3 11 Text Comparatives: regular (-er, -est) No 20 M4 12 Text Pluralnoun/verb: irregular No 10 M5 13 Text Verb tense: irregular No 10 M6 14Text Comparatives: irregular No 10 Vocabulary V1 15 Text Top 200 highfrequency words No 20 V2 16 Text Top 200-400 high frequency words No 20290

The sequence of progression will follow the content grid shown above,starting with level 1 and ending with level 16. Students who have madeplateau-based transitions will return to uncompleted levels after beingexposed to all of the content. Within a unit, items will be presented inrandom order unless they are part of a story. Items within a storyshould be presented together and in the specified sequence. The long (40item) story that spans the two vocabulary sections is broken into 4chapters (2 in each level, 8 or 12 items each). The two in each levelchapters should be presented in the specified sequence.

Referring now to FIG. 41, a screen shot 4100 is shown of an initialscreen in this exercise. Like the other exercises, this screen 4100includes a student indicator 4102, a Paw select 4104, a score indicator4106, and a time indicator 4108. In addition, the screen 4100 includesthe side of a slide 4120 for presentation of sentences, which will befurther illustrated below.

Referring now to FIG. 42, a screen shot 4200 is shown which is similarto that described with respect to Bedtime Beasties. A sentence 4220 ispresented after a student selects the Paw. In levels 1 and 2, thesentence is presented aurally and textually. In levels 3-16, however,the sentences are presented textually only. Below the sentence 4220 area number of choices 4222 that the student should select from to fill inthe missing part of the sentence 4220. In this instance, the choice“smaller” is appropriate. If selected, it will be highlighted, andplaced into the sentence 4220. If another choice is selected, theincorrect choice, and all other incorrect choices, will be grayed out,and the correct choice will be highlighted. As in the other games, a“ding” is played for a correct choice, and the score is incremented. Ifan incorrect choice is made, a “thunk” is played, and no points areawarded. The method of Leaping Lizards is essentially the same as thatof Bedtime Beasties, with respect to progression through the variouslevels. However, it should be noted that the types of sentences utilizedin Leaping Lizards include Capitalization, Syntax, andMorphological/Inflectional training, not present in Bedtime Beasties. Acomplete stimulus set for this exercise is found in Appendix A.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-5: Buzz Fly

The goal of this exercise is to improve listening comprehension andworking memory skills as measured by performance on multiple choicequestions. In this exercise, the student listens to a passage andanswers comprehension questions relating to each passage. The passagesare presented on sheets of paper coming from the newsroom typewriter,and answer choices are presented by flies in the room. The passage isbroken down into a number of “blocks” of text. The block is “read aloud”to the student and also presented as on-screen text. At the end of theblock, the student should answer multiple choice question(s) to evaluatecomprehension of that block. The questions are presented aurally andwritten, and the response choices are presented as pictures. After thesequestions, the student continues with subsequent blocks of text tocomplete the passage.

To begin a trial, the student clicks the OR button. The student is thenpresented with a block of text (written and aural). To help the studentfollow along with the aural presentation, the written text is synched tothe audio with line-by-line highlighting (note: this is different thansentence-by-sentence). When a line of text is highlighted, the lettersare black. All the other lines of text are non-highlighted, so theletters are in a lighter shade of gray. Once the last line of a blockhas been aurally presented, the text block disappears and the firstquestion appears.

On a correct response, the response choice is aurally presented and thecorrect answer is highlighted in yellow. The points counter increasesand the student hears a “ding” point by point. For example, if thestudent has 6 points and gets 3 more points for the trial they are on,rather than seeing the point total change from “6” to “9” and hearingone “ding”, the student will see the point total change from “6” to “7”to “8” and to “9”, with a “ding” for each point accumulated. The studentthen moves on to the next question of the block. If there are no morequestions in the block to be answered, the OR becomes available. Thestudent clicks the OR to move on to a new block.

On an incorrect response, the student will hear a “thunk”. The correctanswer is not revealed—that is, the student will probably have anotherchance to get it right. The incorrect choice will first display in therollover state, then change to a grayed out state.

The questions are presented written and aurally. Questions are presentedwith regular bold text (as they are just one sentence). The responsesare presented as pictures (no aural presentation unless correctselection is made). To help the student know where they are in a passage(and when a passage begins and ends), there will be a passage lengthindicator at the bottom of passage text display. The passage lengthindicator will show a row of “page” icons mirroring the number of blocksof text and highlighting the position of the current block within thepassage.

A trial is evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correctanswer to a question the first time it is presented. A correct answer toa learning trial does not evaluate as correct for progression. Tosuccessfully pass a unit, the student should answer 8 out of 9 questionscorrectly (for a unit of 9) or 11 of 12 questions correctly for a unitof 12. Passages with 6 questions are grouped in pairs to make a unit of12, passages with 9 questions are their own unit. Only the firstresponse to every trial is evaluated. If a trial (question) is repeatedin the form of a learning trial, the additional response is notevaluated for progression, though points are awarded on a correctresponse. If the student meets the criteria for passing the unit(answering the question correctly on the first try), the unit is closed.Otherwise, all failed units will be repeated at the end of the level.The student will have a total of 3 tries to pass each unit (notincluding learning trials), before moving on to the next level.

A table below illustrates advancement in this exercise through fivedifficulty levels. If one or more questions were responded toincorrectly, the student gets another opportunity to answer thequestion(s)s correctly before moving on to the next block. The block isdisplayed again. The student moves on to the question or questions aboutthe block of text. The incorrect response previously chosen is inactiveand displayed in a grayed out state. The student responds again. Thiscontinues until all the incorrectly answered questions have beenpresented again. If one or more of these were responded to incorrectly,the block is displayed again followed by the presentation of theincorrect question. This time both incorrectly chosen responses areinactive and displayed in a grayed out state. If the student makes anincorrect response at this point the correct answer highlights and thereis a short delay before the next question is shown. The questions arenot shown a fourth time. If a student has not met criteria for a unit(after 3 attempts, not including the learning trials), then the studentplateau transitions to the next open unit in the progression. However,all failed units will be repeated at the end of the exercise untilpassed. Reading Questions Non- Difficulty Rate Grade per Fiction FictionLevel (wpm) Level Passage Passages Passages Passages Questions 1  90-115K 6 6 2 8 48 2  90-115 1 6 2 6 8 48 3 115-140 K 9 2 2 4 36 4 115-140 1 92 2 4 36 5 115-140 2 9 2 2 4 36 Total: 28 204

The stimulus sets for this exercise are located in Appendix A.

Referring now to FIG. 43, a screen shot 4300 is shown of an initialscreen in the exercise Buzz Fly. As in the other exercises, the screen4300 includes a student indicator 4302, a Paw select 4304, a countindicator 4306 and a time indicator 4308. In addition, a horse reporter4310 is shown which will type the stories and present them to thestudent. Further, flies 4312 are provided to show the student thepossible responses.

Referring now to FIG. 44, a screen shot 4400 is shown. This screen 4400occurs after the student selects a trial by clicking on the Paw select4304. The horse reporter 4310 presents part of a story 4320 to thestudent. At the bottom of the story 4320 is a progress indicator 4322 toshow the student where in the story the presented part of the story is.The story 4320 is aurally presented to the student, a line at a time,with each line being highlighted as it is read.

Referring now to FIG. 45, a screen shot 4500 is shown. The screen 4500occurs after the story shown in FIG. 44 is presented to the student. Atthis point, the horse reporter 4310 asks the student, aurally, andtextually in balloon 4530, a question related to the story. The flies4312 provide a number of answers 4530, graphically, to the student. Inthis screen 4500, the correct answer to the question 4530 is “in thewoods”. The picture 4530 in the lower left corner, that is highlighted(because the select cursor is over this answer), best illustrates theanswer “in the woods”. If the student selects this picture, the pictures4530 disappear, and “dings” are played as the score increases.

Referring now to FIG. 46, a screen shot 4600 is shown after a studentincorrectly answers a question. The correct answer is “in the fog” andis best illustrated by the picture in the upper left. However, thestudent selected the picture in the lower left. When s/he did, a “thunk”is played, and that answer is grayed out. The student then has anotheropportunity to select the correct answer.

Referring now to FIG. 47, a flow chart 4700 is shown illustrating themethod according to the present invention. Flow begins at block 4702 andproceeds to block 4704.

At block 4704, an initial training trial is presented. The student isread instructions regarding the exercise, and a first story. Then s/heis presented answers to the story. Correct or incorrect answers in thetrial are not counted towards progression. Flow then proceeds to block4706.

At block 4706, the unit number is set to 1, the passage is set to 1, andthe block is set to 1. In one embodiment, in levels 1 and 2, there are 2passages per unit, and 4 units per level. There are thus 8 passages perlevel. Further, there are 6 blocks per passage, with 1 trial per blockfor a total of 48 trials per level. In levels 3-5 there is 1 passage perunit, and 4 units per level. Thus, there are 4 passages per level.Further, there are 6 blocks per passage, with 9 trials per passage, witheither 1 or 2 trials per block. Thus, there is a total of 36 trials perlevel. Flow then proceeds to block 4708.

At block 4708, a block is presented. That is, a block is a portion of apassage, as shown above in FIG. 44. The block is presented aurally andtextually. Then, the pictorial answers are provided, and the studentresponds. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4710.

At decision block 4710, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly responded to the block. If so, flow proceeds todecision block 4714. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4712.

At block 4712, the student is given a 2nd chance to correctly answer thequestion. Recall from FIG. 46, that the previous incorrect selection isgrayed out. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4716.

At decision block 4716, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly responded to the question, on the 2nd try. If s/hedid, flow proceeds to decision block 4714. If they did not, flowproceeds to block 4718.

At block 4718, the student is presented a 3rd chance of respondedcorrectly (with two incorrect selections grayed out). Flow then proceedsto decision block 4714.

At decision block 4714, a determination is made as to whether the justcompleted block is the last block in the passage. If not, flow proceedsback to block 4708 for presentation of the next block in the passage.Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 4720.

At decision block 4720 a determination is made as to whether the studentpassed the unit. In one embodiment, to pass a unit, 11 out of 12 trials(in levels 1 and 2) and 8 out of 9 trials (in levels 3-5) are requiredto pass a unit. If the student passes a unit, flow proceeds to decisionblock 4728. If the student does not pass a unit, flow proceeds todecision block 4722.

At decision block 4722, the student is given 3 opportunities to pass aunit. That is, the unit is repeated twice more, following the flow ofblocks 4708- 4720. If they do pass the unit within three attempts, flowproceeds to block 4726. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4724.

At block 4724, the unit is moved to the end of the level. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 4728.

At block 4726, the unit is moved to the end of the exercise, as in theother exercises described above. Flow then proceeds to decision block4728.

At decision block 4728, a determination is made as to whether thepresent unit is the last unit in the level. If not, flow proceeds toblock 4730. But, if the present unit is the last unit in the level, flowproceeds to decision block 4732.

At block 4730, the next unit in the present level is opened. Flow thenproceeds back to block 4708 for presentation of the first block in thenew unit.

At decision block 4732, a determination is made as to whether thepresent level is the last level (e.g., level 5) in the exercise. If itis, flow proceeds to block 4736. If it is not, flow proceeds to block4734.

At block 4734, the next level in the exercise is opened. Flow thenproceeds back to block 4708 for presentation of the 1st block in the 1stunit of the next level.

At block 4736, all of the levels have been completed. But, if thestudent was unable to pass any of the units, they are repeated untilpassed, in block 4736. Flow then proceeds to block 4738 where theexercise ends.

Programs Set—Reading 2

Exercise-5: Dog Bone

The goal of this exercise is to improve a students listeningcomprehension, sentence and reading skills, and working memory skills asmeasured by performance on multiple choice questions. Students listen topassages while reading along, and demonstrate their comprehension byanswering questions. They will also be asked to reread the same passagesindependently, and answer a new set of questions. “What,” “where,”“who,” “when,” and “how” type questions will be asked, along with “Why”questions, and questions about cause and effect. Some questions willfocus on story elements such as plot, setting and characters. Questionsabout word or story ambiguities will also be asked. In addition tofiction and nonfiction passages, students will be presented with othertypes of informational material such as graphs and charts which theyshould interpret to answer questions. During the aural presentation ofpassages, the written text will also be presented, with line by linehighlighting to help the student follow along. Questions will bepresented intermittently throughout each passage, to maintain engagementand reduce memory demands. To build sustained attention and workingmemory, the length of the passage blocks between questions will increaseas students progress through the exercise. To support comprehension andhelp students follow along in the text, the exercise begins with 1stgrade level vocabulary and a slower aural presentation rate. Later inthe exercise, the aural presentation rate is increased and vocabulary upto the 3rd grade level is used. Passages will be aurally presented atcontrolled reading rates, falling within optimum wpm ranges identifiedfor each difficulty level. To develop comprehension skills for a varietyof text types, both fiction and nonfiction passages are presentedthroughout the exercise.

This exercise has two modes. In Mode 1, the student listens to a passageand answers comprehension questions relating to each passage. Thepassage is broken down into a number of “blocks” of text. A block is“read aloud” to the student and also presented as on-screen text(highlighted to synch to the aural presentation). At the end of theblock, the student should answer multiple choice question(s) to evaluatecomprehension of that block. Unlike the Buzz Fly exercise, the responsechoices are presented as text and not as pictures. After answering oneor two questions, the student continues with subsequent blocks of textto complete the passage. In Mode 2, the student reads the on-screen text(the passage blocks and the questions) with no aural presentation.Passage blocks in the Reading Mode are repeated from the Listening Mode.However, the Reading Mode contains different comprehension questionsthan the Listening Mode. To help the student know where they are in apassage (and when a passage begins and ends), there will be a passagelength indicator at the bottom of passage text display. The passagelength indicator will show a row of “page” icons mirroring the number ofblocks of text and highlighting the position of the current block withinthe passage.

A trial is evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correctanswer to a question the first time it is presented. A correct answer toa question repeated as a “learning trial” does not evaluate as correctfor progression.

To successfully pass a unit (a passage), the student should answer 10 or11 of 12 questions correctly. More specifically, each passage contains12 questions, 6 in “Mode 1” and 6 in “Mode 2.” 5 of 6 correctly answeredquestions are required to pass Mode 1, 5 of 6 correctly answeredquestions are required to pass Mode 2. Only the first response to everytrial is evaluated. If a trial (question) is repeated in a learningtrial the additional response is not evaluated for progression, thoughpoints are awarded on a correct response. If the student successfullymeets the criteria of a unit, the unit is closed. Otherwise, it will berepeated up to two more times at the end of the level.

To successfully pass a unit in Charts and Graphs, a student shouldanswer 9 of 10 questions correctly. A unit consists of multiple charts,graphs, or tables of a specific type and a total of 10 questions.

The table below details the advancement from level to level. ReadingVocab Non- Tables/ Difficulty Rate Grade Questions Fiction FictionCharts/ Level (wpm) Level per Passage Passages Passages Graphs PassagesQuestions 1 115-140 1 12 4 2 0 6 72 2 115-140 2 12 2 4 0 6 72 3 140-1651 12 2 2 0 4 48 4 140-165 2 12 1 1 0 2 24 5 140-165 3 12 1 1 0 2 24 6 NA2 2-4 0 0 11 0 40 Total: 10 10 11 20 280

All fiction passages within a level will be presented first, in randomorder. Nonfiction passages for the level will then be presented, also inrandom order. Tables and graphs are presented separately, at the end ofthe exercise. There are 4 units in the tables/charts/graphs portion. Aunit consists of 2 or more tables/charts/graphs of the same type and 2to 4 questions pertaining to each table/chart/graph. Each unit will havea total of 10 questions.

A student starts with an aural+text story (Mode 1) and if they pass it,would go on to the text-only version of the same story (Mode 2). If thestudent doesn't pass Mode 1, they transition to a different story inMode 1. If the student fails while in Mode 2, s/he has to complete Mode1 again when s/he returns to that story, before moving on to Mode 2.

Referring now to FIG. 48, a screen shot 4800 is shown of an initialscreen within this exercise. Like in the other exercises, the screen4800 includes a student indicator 4802, a Paw select 4804, a countindicator 4806, and a time indicator 4808. In addition the screenincludes a Quiz dog 4810, and four contestants 4812.

Referring now to FIG. 49, a screen shot 4900 is shown of a scene afterthe student begins a trial by selecting the Paw select 4804. A portionof a story 4920 is presented. In mode 1, as mentioned above, the storyis presented textually, and aurally, with each line highlighted while itis being read. In mode 2, the story is presented textually only. At thebottom of the story 4920 is a progress indicator 4922 which indicatesthe place the present portion 4920 is within the entire story.

Referring now to FIG. 50, a screen 5000 is shown, which directly followsthe screen 4900. A question 5030 is posed to the student (aurally andtextually in mode 1, and textually in mode 2). The answer 5032, alongwith a number of incorrect answers, are provided below. The student isto select the correct answer from the number of choices. If s/hecorrectly answers, either another portion of the story is read, orpossibly another question might be presented. If s/he incorrectlyanswers, the portion of the story is read again, and the question isasked again. This time, the previously selected incorrect answer isgrayed out.

Referring now to FIG. 51, a flow chart 5100 is shown to illustrate themethod of Dog Bone. Flow begins at block 5101 and continues to block5102.

At block 5102, an initial trial is presented to the student.Instructions are presented aurally, and then a trial is presentedaurally and visually, such as that shown in FIGS. 49 and 50. The purposeof the initial trial is to train the student what to do in the exercise.Flow then proceeds to block 5104.

At block 5104, the unit, block, level and mode are all set to 1. Flowthen proceeds to block 5106.

At block 5106, a new block is presented. As in Buzz Fly, a block is aportion of a story. In level 1, unit 1, there are 6 blocks. The firstblock is presented in block 5106. Flow then proceeds to decision block5108.

At decision block 5108, at determination is made as to whether the blockwas answered correctly. If so, flow proceeds to decision block 5112.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5110.

At block 5110, the block is repeated. That is, the story is presentedagain, and the question is asked again, this time, with the previouslyselected incorrect response grayed out. Flow then proceeds to decisionblock 5114.

At decision block 5114, a determination is made as to whether the blockwas answered correctly. If so, flow proceeds to decision block 5112.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5116.

At block 5116, the block is presented a 3rd time, this time, with theprevious two incorrect answers grayed out. Flow then proceeds todecision block 5118.

At decision block 5118, a determination is made as to whether the blockwas answered correctly. If so, flow proceeds to decision block 5112.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5120.

At block 5120, the correct answer is highlighted. Flow then proceeds todecision block 5112.

At decision block 5112, a determination is made as to whether thepresent block is the last block in the unit. If not, flow proceeds backto block 5106 for presentation of the next block in the unit. However,if the present block is the last block in the unit, flow proceeds todecision block 5122.

At decision block 5122, a determination is made as to whether thepresent unit, in the present mode has been passed. For levels 1-5, thestudent is required to correctly respond to 5 out of 6 questions foreach unit. For level 6, the student is required to correctly respond to9 out of 10 questions. If the student passes, flow proceeds to decisionblock 5124. If the student does not pass, flow proceeds to decisionblock 5128.

At decision block 5124, a determination is made as to whether the passedunit was in mode 1. If it was, flow proceeds to block 5126. However, ifthe present unit was in mode 2, flow proceeds to decision block 5128.

At block 5126, mode 2 for the present unit is opened. Flow then proceedsback to block 5106 for presentation of the unit, again, but this time inmode 2.

At decision block 5128, a determination is made as to whether thepresent unit is the last unit in the level. If it is not, flow proceedsto block 5132. However, if the present unit is the last unit of thecurrent level, flow proceeds to decision block 5130.

At decision block 5130 a determination is made as to whether any of theunits in the present level were failed. If not, flow proceeds to block5132. But, if any of the units were failed, flow proceeds to block 5134.

At block 5134, the failed units are repeated, one by one. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 5136.

At decision block 5136 a determination is made as to whether any of theunits in the present level were failed. If not, flow proceeds to block5132. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5138.

At block 5138, the failed units are presented for a 3rd time. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 5140.

At decision block 5140 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas failed any of the units, for a 3rd time. If not, flow proceeds toblock 5132. However, if the student still has units that s/he has notpassed, those units are left open, to be repeated at the end of theexercise, and flow proceeds to block 5132.

At block 5132, either the next unit in a level, or the next level isproceeded to. That is, if the path to block 5132 is from decision block5128, then the next unit in the present level is chosen forpresentation, and flow proceeds back to block 5106. However, if the pathto block 5132 is from either decision block 5130 or 5136, then thepresent unit is the last unit in the level, so the next level is chosenfor presentation, and flow proceeds back to block 5106. If, the path toblock 5132 is from decision block 5140, as a result of the studenthaving no failed units, then the present unit is the last unit in thelevel, so the next level is chosen for presentation, and flow proceedsback to block 5106. If however, the path to block 5132 is from decisionblock 5140, as a result of the student having failed units still open,those units are left open, and will be repeated at the end of thisexercise. But, in the meantime, the next level is opened, and flowproceeds back to block 5106.

Program Set—Reading 1

Exercise-6: Quail Mail

Each of the exercises described above have had corresponding games inthe program sets Reading 1 and Reading 2, albeit often differingmethods. The present game “Quail Mail” in Reading 1, and the last gameto be described “Ant Antics” in Reading 2, do not correspond to eachother.

The goal of Quail Mail is to improve vocabulary, concept knowledge, anddecoding skills. The student is asked to sort words into semantic andlinguistic categories. This exercise encourages flexibility duringreading and automatic access to the various dimensions of vocabulary.

In this exercise the student will sort pictures and/or words, one at atime, into different categories. The categories will include thefollowing: Basic (Dogs, Trees, Flowers); Super-ordinate (Foods,Animals); Thematic (Animals on a farm, Things in a classroom);Descriptive (Functions: Clean with it; & Features: Bigger than a car);Linguistic (Syntax: Where, When, Who, What; & Morphology: Plural,Verb+ing, Verb+ed).

When first starting the exercise, the student will be presented with asingle bin, representing a single category from the “Basic” categorytype, with items presented in blocks of four. Next a second categorywill be added, with two bins presented, and items presented in blocks ofeight. Finally, four bins will be presented, representing all fourcategories from the group, with blocks of 32 items presented.

An Introductory Level presents simple stimuli to familiarize studentswith the sorting task. For this level the “Basic” category type ispresented, including categories like “Dog” and “Tree.” Although easy tosort visually and conceptually, the members of these categories havesubordinate-level names (e.g., dalmation and poodle; redwood and elm).These vocabulary items are too advanced to teach first graders. For thisreason, all the items to be sorted at this level will be presented aspictures only, with neither text nor aural labels. Beyond theIntroductory level, all stimulus items will initially be presented in apicture-word stage (picture+text+aural; PTA), and after students passall of the categories in a category group, they repeat those categoriesin word-only stage (text+aural; TA). Finally, fluency Rounds areprovided to give the student an opportunity to test fluency. A visualcue (full mailbag of cards or letters and the use of a timer) willindicate to the student that this is a “Fluency Round”, a speeded andtime-limited version of the usual trial.

When beginning a new unit, the student will be required to click the ORbutton (there is no OR press in between trials, only at the beginning ofa new unit). At this time, a new category bin or set of bins will bepresented along with an aural description of each category. Next, astimulus is presented visually and aurally. (The student can click theOR during a trial to repeat the aural presentation of the stimulus.) Thestudent responds by clicking on the category bin to sort the word. Newstimuli are presented automatically, until the unit is complete.

The basic interaction in the Fluency Round is essentially the same aswith the rest of the exercise. A Fluency Round will occur whenever astudent has reached the passing criterion for a category group in thetext+aural stage (there is no Fluency Round in the picture+text+auralstage). The sorting bins will remain in the same positions but thecontent sampling will be newly randomized. The bin categories are notpresented as they are at the beginning of a new unit with regulartrials. In one embodiment, the Fluency Round is timed at one minute. Ifthe student completes all the available trials before the time is up, anew random sampling of the stimulus for the current category group ispresented. If the Fluency Round occurs at the end of a session, thestudent is allowed to complete the Fluency Round before the sessiontimes out. If the student exits manually from the Fluency Round, theround will be exited immediately.

The exercise includes the following content:

384 items (8 per category, 32 per category type) in the followingcategories: Basic Super-ordinate Thematic Dog Foods Animals on a farmTree Animals Animals in a zoo Flower Body parts Things you find onclothing Chair Clothes Things on someone's head Cup Fruits Animals in apet store Shoe Vegetables Animals that can fly Sign Bugs Things in aclassroom Truck Birds Things at a circus Linguistic: syntax &Descriptive: Functions Descriptive: Features morphology Clean with it Itis bigger than a car Where is it? Go places with it It is smaller thanyour hand When was it? Eat with it Cold weather clothes Who does it?Make art with it Hot weather clothes What is it? Take a bath with it Yousee it in the sky Many (Plural Noun + s) Cook with it You see it in thewater One (Singular Noun) Carry things with it Careful, it's sharp!Happening now (Verb + ing) Garden with it Careful, it's hot! Happenedbefore (Verb + ed)

Minimum trials to complete all material: 1 2 4 category categoriescategories Total Picture only 4 16 64 84 Picture + Word 0 80 320 400Word only 0 0 320 320 Total 4 96 704 806

Below is a list of definitions that will be used to describe theprogression or flow of the method used in Quail Mail:

-   -   Category: The individual categories into which the student        should sort the words (i.e. “Animals”).    -   Category Group: Refers to a set of 4 categories that are always        contrasted with each other. A 4×8 grid will always include all 4        categories from a single group. A 2×4 grid can include any two        categories from a single group. Categories from different groups        should never be presented together in the same grid.    -   Category Type: All the individual categories come from six        category types: Basic (will sort unlabeled pictures—no text or        aural), Super-ordinate, Thematic, Descriptive: Functions,        Descriptive: Features, Linguistic: Syntax & Morphology.    -   Grid: Refers to the number of categories being contrasted and        the number of items in a unit. There are three grid-sizes 1×4,        2×4, and 4×8. 1×4 occurs ONLY when the student enters the        exercise for the very fist time as a familiarization to the        exercise.    -   Stage: Refers to the type of stimulus being presented (with or        without a picture). The items from each category type are        presented twice. First they are presented in the Picture-Word        stage (picture+text+aural stimuli: PTA), then in the Word-Only        stage (text+aural: TA).    -   Unit: A unit is always the smallest group of trials to be        evaluated for advancement.

A trial is evaluated as correct if the student responds by clicking thecorrect category for the word. For units of less than 10 trials (i.e.,1×4 and 2×4 grids), the student should get 100% correct. To successfullypass a 4×8 unit, the student should get 90% of the trials correct; 29correct out of 32 items. Evaluation of the unit should happen at thecompletion of the unit. It is possible for a student to pass a unit ifthey miss the last item in the unit, however any reward animation shouldbe delayed.

Picture-word and word-only stages—Categories are initially presented atthe picture-word stage (picture+text+aural stimuli: PTA). After astudent meets passing criteria for a 4×8 unit in the PTA stage, thatcategory group is repeated at the word-only stage (text+aural: TA) witha 4×8 unit. The same items are presented at the PTA and TA stages. Onlythe visual stimuli and the random order of presentation change. Note:students who transition out of the PTA stage of a Category group due toplateau-based transitions should proceed to the PTA stage of the nextopen group, not the TA stage of the same group. Those thatplateau-transition out of the TA stage should repeat the PTA stage forthe category group at the 4×8 grid level, when they return to thisgroup.

The first time a new group is entered, two bins are presented at the PTAstage. Items are presented in blocks of eight (randomly sampled from thetwo categories). To pass this unit, the student should correctly answerall eight items. If the 2×4 PTA unit is passed, four bins will bepresented at the PTA stage, representing all four categories from agroup. To pass this unit, the student should correctly answer 90% of theitems (i.e., 29 of the 32). If the 4×8 PTA unit is passed, four binswill be presented at the TA stage. If the 4×8 TA unit is passed, fourbins will be presented at the fluency stage.

In the PTA stage, the 2×4 grid is presented after the 1×4 grid or thefirst time a student enters any other Category Group. The 2×4 grid isalso presented after a student fails a 4×8 grid in the PTA stage.Students get 3 chances to reach criterion and pass the 2×4 grid. If astudent does NOT pass the first 2×4 grid, they will transition to asecond 2×4 grid for the same group. The second 2×4 grid should beconstructed from the two remaining categories in the same CategoryGroup. Again, the student gets 3 chances to pass the new 2×4 grid. If astudent passes any 2×4 grid, they will proceed to the 4×8 PTA grid inthe same Category Group. If a student does NOT pass any 2×4 grid, theywill proceed to the next open unit (i.e., plateau-based transition to anew Category Group).

Students get 3 chances to reach criterion and pass the 4×8 grid. If astudent passes a 4×8 grid, the student progresses to a 4×8 TA (wordonly) grid for the same Category Group. Once a Category Group has beenpassed at the 4×8 grid level, the student will not return to the 2×4level for this group. If a student fails a 4×8 grid, they willtransition to the next open unit (i.e., the next Category Group). Whenthe student returns to this category group, they will begin at the 2×4grid level.

In the Text-Aural (word only) Stage, once a Category Group has beenpassed at the PTA stage, it is repeated at the TA stage with text+auralstimuli only (no picture). Only 4×8 grids are presented at the TA stage.When the criteria have been met in the Text-Aural stage for a CategoryGroup, the student advances to the Fluency Round for that group (thereis no Fluency Round for Basic categories at the Introductory Level or inthe Picture-Text-Aural stage). After completion of the Fluency Round,this Category Group is closed. If a student fails a 4×8 grid in the TAstage, they will transition to the next open unit. When the studentreturns to this Category Group, they will begin at the 4×8 grid level inthe PTA stage.

Referring now to FIG. 52, a screen shot 5200 is shown of an initialscreen in the exercise Quail Mail. As in the other exercises, screen5200 includes a student indicator 5202, a Paw select 5204, a countindicator 5206, and a time indicator 5208. In addition, the screen 5200includes a bear postman 5210, a number of mailboxes 5212, and a numberof speakers 5214. In operation, the bear 5210 will present a targetitem, as a picture-text-aural, or as text-aural, and the student mustsort the presented target item into one of the mailboxes 5212. If thestudent forgets what the mailboxes refer to, s/he may click on thecorresponding speaker 5214 and have the category associated with thatmailbox repeated.

Referring now to FIG. 53, a screen shot 5300 is shown of a trial withinthe exercise Quail Mail. In this trial, a target 5320 (a picture of atree) is presented to the student, pictorially, and aurally, and thestudent must select the appropriate mailbox for the target 5320 to goin. The choices are: dog, flower, chair and tree. The correct selectionis tree 5322. If the student selects this mailbox, a “ding” is played,and the score is incremented. If the student selects another mailbox, a“thunk” is played, the score is not incremented, and the correct answer“tree” is highlighted.

Referring now to FIG. 54, a screen shot 5400 is shown of a slightly moreadvanced trial. In this trial, the student is given a target stimulus5420 that includes an aural presentation, a pictorial presentation, and,a textual presentation. The student is required to sort the targetstimulus 5420 (i.e., “mouth”) into the correct bin or mailbox “bodyparts”.

Referring now to FIG. 55, a screen shot 5500 is shown of another trial.In this instance, the target 5520 is not shown pictorially, but simplyaurally and textually. The student must sort the target 5520 “lizard”into one of the four categories. Further, the Paw select has beenreplaced with a timer 5540, indicating that this is a timed fluencyround, as described above.

As mentioned above, there are two types of target stimulus in thepresent exercise: basic types; and advanced types. Basic types presentpictures of stimulus only. Advance types present eitherpictures+text+aural, or just text+aural. Basic type presentations arereferred to as Type 1. Either of the advanced types are referred to asType 2.

Referring now to FIG. 56, a flow chart 5600 is shown which illustratesthe method of the present exercise. Flow begins at block 5602 andproceeds to block 5604.

At block 5604, an initial training exercise is presented. Morespecifically, a 1×4 grid is started. That is, four trials are presentedusing just 1 mailbox for sorting. The purpose of the initial training isto teach the student to select the target stimulus that corresponds tothe category in the mailbox. There is no incorrect answer in the initialtraining. Flow then proceeds to decision block 5606.

At decision block 5606, a 2×4 grid is presented. That is, 4 trials arepresented where the student has two mailbox options for sorting. Twosets of 2×4 grids are presented, or eight total trials. The student isrequired to correctly respond to all eight trials to advance. If theydo, flow proceeds to block 5612. If the student does not correctlyrespond to all eight trials, they are given 3 more opportunities, atdecision block 5608. If they still do not pass, flow proceeds todecision block 5610.

At decision block 5610, a second 2×4 grid is constructed from the tworemaining categories in the same category group. Again, the student getsthree opportunities to pass the new 2×4 grid. If the student passes thisgrid, at 100%, flow proceeds to block 5612. Otherwise, flow proceeds todecision block 5616.

At decision block 5616, a determination is made as to whether there areany remaining groups in the present type (type 1). If so, flow proceedsto block 5614. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5618.

At block 5614, the next group within type 1 is opened, and flow proceedsback to block 5606 for presentation of another 2×4 grid. The student isrequired to pass any 2×4 grid, before they are allowed to advance toblock 5612 for presentation of a 4×8 grid. If they cannot pass any ofthe 2×4 grids in type 1, a next group is opened, in type ow proceeds toblock 5620.

At block 5612, a 4×8 grid set of trials is presented to the student, intype 1. Flow then proceeds to decision block 5613.

At decision block 5613 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas correctly passed 90% of the trials (or 29 out of 32 trials). Theyare given 3 chances to pass this grid. If they do, flow proceeds todecision block 5616. If they do not, flow still proceeds to decisionblock 5616, but the present unit remains open.

At block 5618, the next group is opened in type 2 (picture+text+aural).Flow then proceeds to block 5620.

At block 5620, a 2×4 grid is presented for the new group in type 2. Flowthen proceeds to decision block 5622.

At decision block 5622, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has passed this grid. For this 2×4 grid, the student is giventhree chances to pass at 100% (or 8 out of 8 trials). If they do not,flow proceeds to decision block 5624. However, if they pass, flowproceeds to block 5623.

At decision block 5624, a new 2×4 grid is presented from another groupin the same category. The student is given 3 opportunities to pass thisgrid. Whether they pass or not, flow proceeds to block 5628. However, ifthey pass, the present group is closed, whereas if they do not pass, thepresent group remains open for completion later.

At block 5628, the next group is opened. If all of the groups have beenclosed for the present type in type 2 (PTA), then another group isopened for the next type (TA). Flow then proceeds back to block 5620 forpresentation of another 2×4 grid for the new group and/or type.

At block 5623, a presentation of a new 4×8 grid is presented. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 5626.

At decision block 5626, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has passed the 4×8 grid. As above, the student is given threechances to pass the 4×8 grid at 90% (or 29 out of 32). If they do not,the present unit remains open and flow proceeds to block 5628.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5627.

At block 5627, a new 4×8 grid is presented. This grid is stage 2 of type2 (text+aural). Flow then proceeds to decision block 5630.

At decision block 5630, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly passed this grid. As above, for a 4×8 grid, thestudent is given three chances to pass at 90% (or 29 out of 32). If theydo not, the unit remains open, and flow proceeds to block 5628.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 5632.

At block 5632, a timed fluency round is presented to the student for thepresent unit. Upon completion, flow proceeds to block 5628.

Program Set—Reading 2

Exercise-6: Ant Antics

The goal of this exercise is to improve vocabulary skills, syntaxskills, and sentence-level comprehension. The student is asked to choosewhich one of four sentences (or phrases) best describes a picture. Thesentences sample the basic grammatical structures of spoken English asmastered by the second grade. Foil sentences use vocabulary that isrelevant to the picture, but say something that is not true about thepicture, often by changing word order and/or word. To respond correctly,students must focus on the syntactic features of the sentences. Becausethis task requires students to carefully read, analyze, and compare thepossible answers, it exercises working memory and logic skills as wellas syntactic abilities.

The participant sees one picture along with four sentences (or phrases),and must pick the sentence (or phrase) that correctly describessomething in the picture. Sentences will be created based on 24 selectedsyntactic forms. These forms are syntactic constructions that typicallydevelop between ages 3 and 9. Items per Reading Reading SyntacticStructures vocab/ Difficulty: Difficulty: Complexity per Items perlength Vocabulary Length levels level structure level Easy Short 8 3 496 Easy Long 8 3 4 96 Hard Short 8 3 4 96

Difficulty will be manipulated along 2 primary dimensions, readingdifficulty and syntactic complexity. The dimension of reading difficultyis a combination of non-grammatical factors: sentence length andvocabulary. Sentence length increases across two levels: short and long.Short sentences are the minimal length for that sentence structure: onaverage 3-6 words long. Long sentences are the minimal length for thatstructure plus 1 to 3 extra words: on average 4-8 words long. The extrawords consist of adjectives, complements, and prepositional phrases, inorder to make sentences longer with minimal impact on syntacticcomplexity. Vocabulary increases across two levels: easy and hard. Easyvocabulary items were based on a restricted set of 74 familiar and/oreasily decodable Kindergarten level words, designed to minimize theburdens of decoding and word recognition. Hard vocabulary items werebased on an unrestricted set of 1^(st) and 2^(nd) grade level words. Noitems will use both long sentences and hard vocabulary.

Syntactic complexity increases across 8 levels. The age of acquisitionfor the targeted sentence structures increases across syntactic levelsfrom an average of 2.8 to 5.5. In addition, the average minimal length(shortest sentence that can have the target structure) increases fromapproximately 3 words at the lowest levels (e.g., “The cats read.”) toapproximately 6 words at the highest levels (e.g., “The cow that is sadis walking.”).

There are eight grammatical levels and three reading difficulty levels(sentence length+vocabulary). Because individual students will responddifferently to these two dimensions of difficulty, it is possible forstudents to proceed through these levels following different sequences(see “Progression” section). There are 24 forms—three per grammaticaldifficulty level. Reading difficulty refers to the combination of asentence's length/vocabulary. There are 3 levels of reading difficulty:short/easy, long/easy, and short/hard. There are 24 units—one for eachcombination of grammatical level and reading difficulty level. As shownbelow, syntactic difficulty increases moving left to right acrosscolumns, with reading difficulty increasing moving down the rows. 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

All students will begin with unit 1, with all units marked “open.” If aunit is passed, that unit is marked “closed,” and the student proceedsto the next row in the same column (i.e., if unit y is passed, move tounit y+8.) If a unit in row 3 is passed, move to the next open unit. Ifa unit is not passed, repeat the same unit. If a unit is not passed onthe third attempt, it should be marked as “attempted,” and the studentshould make a plateau-based transition to the next open unit. When thestudent transitions from unit 24 (i.e., there are no open units, becauseall have been marked closed or attempted) those units not yet passedshould be marked open again, and the student should return to theincomplete units, following the same progression rules.

A unit includes all trials from a given level (12 trials). All thetrials from a unit are presented before any trials are evaluated. Atthat point, the trials are evaluated for criterion. Each syntacticstructure within a level is evaluated separately, and the student mustcorrectly answer 3 of the 4 trials for each of the three structures topass a unit. Students cannot pass individual syntactic structures,rather, they must reach criterion for all three structures in a singleevaluation cycle and pass the entire unit.

As the student begins taking trials in unit 1, the syntactic structuresand items within that unit will be chosen randomly. Once all trials inall syntactic categories have been presented the unit is evaluated. Ifthe student attains the passing criterion they will advance to a unitwith the same grammatical structure but more challenging reading level,otherwise the same unit is repeated, with the trials presented in a newrandom order.

Referring to FIG. 57, a screen shot 5700 is shown of an initial screenin the exercise Ant Antics. As in the other exercises, the screen 5700includes a student indicator 5702, a Paw select 5704, a count indicator5706 and a time indicator 5708. An ant eater 5710 is provided to presentslides to the student on a slide screen 5712. As mentioned above, thestudent is required to match the best description of the slides with thepresented slide.

Referring now to FIG. 58, a screen shot 5800 is shown of a trial. Aslide 5820 is presented at the top of the screen. At the bottom are foursentences 5822. that describe the slide 5820. As mentioned above, it ispossible that several choices are true. The student is required toselect the best description from the choices. In this trial, the bestdescription (not readily viewable in this description) is “She is blue.”If the student selects this choice, the counter increments, and a “ding”is played. If the student does not select the correct choice, a “thunk”is played, all incorrect sentences are grayed out, and the correctsentence is highlighted.

As mentioned above, the present exercise includes 3 levels of readingdifficulty, and 8 levels of grammar complexity. For each level ofreading difficulty (level 1=short/easy, level 2=long/easy, level3=short/hard) there are 3 types of structure (ID 1=short/easy (4trials), ID 2=long/easy (4 trials), and ID 3=short/hard (4 trials)). Aunit=1 level of reading difficulty×1 grammar complexity for a total of24 units. The content is presented visually only (and textually), noaudio.

Referring now to FIG. 59, a flow chart 5900 is shown which illustratesthe method of Ant Antics. Flow begins at block 5902 and proceeds toblock 5904.

At block 5904, the reading difficulty (RD) is set to 1, the grammarcomplexity (GC) is set to 1, and the Unit is set to 1. Flow thenproceeds to block 5906.

At block 5906, a trial is presented. In one embodiment, there are 12available trials for each unit, four from each of three ID's. The methodrandomly selects one of these 12 for presentation to the student, asshown in FIG. 58. After the student responds, Flow proceeds to decisionblock 5908.

At decision block 5908, a determination is made as to whether anothertrial remains. As just mentioned, there are 12 trials within each unit.The loop between block 5906 and decision block 5908 continues for those12 trials. If another trial remains, flow proceeds back to block 5906.Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 5910.

At decision block 5910 a determination is made as to whether the subjectpassed the unit. In one embodiment, the student must past 3 out of 4trials for each ID in a unit. If they do, flow proceeds to decisionblock 5914. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 5912.

At decision block 5912, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has tried to pass the unit 3 times. If not, flow proceeds backto block 5906 where the unit is repeated. However, if the student hasattempted the unit unsuccessfully 3 times, flow proceeds to block 5916.

At block 5916, the present unit is marked uncompleted (or open). Flowthen proceeds to decision block 5914.

At decision block 5914, a determination is made as to whether thepresent unit is the last unit in the exercise. If not, flow proceeds toblock 5918. However, if the present unit is the last unit in theexercise, flow proceeds to block 5920.

At block 5918, the unit is incremented. Then, flow proceeds back toblock 5906 for presentation of a trial in the next unit. This loopcontinues until all units have been presented.

At block 5920, all units have been presented. But, if any units were notpassed, they remain open. These units are repeated, per the above, along3 chances for each open unit, until all units have been completed.

What has been described above, in the provisional applications whichwere incorporated by reference, in the drawings, claims and attachedappendix, are two sets, each set having multiple exercises which takenalone, and in combination, provide a methodology for helping studentscognitive skills in reading and learning. Several embodiments have beenillustrated in the described exercises for accomplishing this purpose.However, one skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications toscenes, presentation form, and even content, can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Further, what hasbeen described is a methodology for use on a computing device. But, anydevice capable of producing visual and auditory stimulus, along with amechanism for recording selections and feedback could be used. That is,the methodology taught in the present application should not be limitedto use on the computing device described in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Finally, those skilled in the art should appreciate that they canreadily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiments as a basisfor designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present invention without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A computer-implemented method for improving listening comprehensionand working memory skills in a person, the method comprising: providinga stimulus passage set comprising a plurality of stimulus passages,wherein each stimulus passage comprises one or more blocks; presenting ablock from a stimulus passage from the stimulus passage set to theperson via a computing device; asking the person a question regardingthe block; presenting a plurality of answers to the person via thecomputing device, wherein one of the answers is a correct answer to thequestion; requiring the person to select an answer from the plurality ofanswers to answer the question; determining if the person selected thecorrect answer; and repeating said presenting the block, said asking,said presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and saiddetermining for each block of each stimulus passage in the stimuluspassage set; wherein said repeating improves listening comprehension andworking memory skills in the person.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: performing said asking, said presenting the plurality ofanswers, said requiring, and said determining for one or more additionalquestions regarding the block.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein saidpresenting the block comprises: aurally presenting the block; and/ortextually presenting the block.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein saidaurally presenting the block and said textually presenting the blockcomprise: highlighting the block one line at a time in synchrony withaurally presenting the block one line at a time.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein said asking the question comprises: aurally asking thequestion; and/or textually asking the question.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein said presenting the plurality of answers comprises:presenting a picture illustrating each answer.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein said presenting the block, said asking, said presenting theplurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining composesperforming a trial for a block; wherein a stimulus passage comprises aspecified sequence of blocks; wherein a unit comprises a specified setof trials directed to blocks of one or more stimulus passages; where alevel comprises a specified set of units; and wherein said repeatingsaid presenting the block, said asking, said presenting the plurality ofanswers, said requiring, and said determining for each block of eachstimulus passage in the stimulus passage set comprises: performingtrials in each unit of a plurality of units for each level of aplurality of levels in a specified order, wherein successive levelsincrease in difficulty.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein an open unitcomprises a unit that has not been passed; wherein an open levelcomprises a level that has not been completed; and wherein all units areinitially open units, wherein all levels are initially open levels, andwherein said performing trials in each unit of a plurality of units foreach level of a plurality of levels comprises: performing trials in eachopen unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of theplurality of open levels.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein a unit iscompleted when all trials in that unit have been performed; whereinpassing a unit comprises successfully performing a specified percentageof trials in the unit; and wherein a level is completed when all trialsin that level have been performed.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinsaid performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open unitsfor each open level of the plurality of open levels comprises: setting acurrent level to a first level of the plurality of levels; setting acurrent unit to a first unit of the plurality of units; setting acurrent stimulus passage to a first stimulus passage of the plurality ofstimulus passages; setting a current block to a first block of thecurrent stimulus passage; and performing trials for the current block ofthe current stimulus passage in the current unit at the current level.11. The method of claim 10, wherein said performing trials in each openunit of the plurality of open units for each open level of the pluralityof open levels comprises: if the person fails a block, repeating theblock until the person passes the block, or the person fails the block aspecified number of times.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein, duringsaid repeating the block, said presenting a plurality of answers to theperson via the computing device comprises: graying out previouslyselected incorrect answers, wherein the grayed out answers are notselectable by the person.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein saidperforming trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units foreach open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises: ifthere are more blocks in the current stimulus passage, incrementing thecurrent block to a next block in the current stimulus passage; andperforming trials in the current block.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofopen units for each open level of the plurality of open levels furthercomprises: if there are no more blocks in the stimulus passage, andthere are more stimulus passages in the unit, incrementing the currentstimulus passage to a next stimulus passage in the current unit; settingthe current block to a first block in the current stimulus passage; andperforming trials in the current block.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofopen units for each open level of the plurality of open levels furthercomprises: if there are no more blocks in the current unit, determiningif the person passes the current unit.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofopen units for each open level of the plurality of open levels furthercomprises: if the person fails the current unit, repeating the currentunit until the person passes the current unit, or the person fails thecurrent unit a specified number of times; keeping the current unit openfor later presentation to the person.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein said keeping the current unit open for later presentation to theperson comprises: if the person passes the current unit after more thanone attempt, keeping the current unit open for later presentation to theperson after all units have been completed; otherwise, keeping thecurrent unit open for later presentation to the person after completionof the current level.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein saidperforming trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units foreach open level of the plurality of open levels further comprises: ifthe person passes the current unit, closing the current unit.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein said performing trials in each open unit ofthe plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of openlevels further comprises: if there are more open units in the currentlevel, incrementing the current unit to a next open unit in the currentlevel; setting the current block to a first block in the current unit;and performing trials in the current block.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofopen units for each open level of the plurality of open levels furthercomprises: if there are no more open units in the current level,incrementing the current level to a next open level; setting the currentunit to a next open unit in the current level; setting the current blockto a first block in the current unit; and performing trials in thecurrent block.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said performingtrials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each openlevel of the plurality of open levels comprises: if all levels have beencompleted, and there are further open units, for each unit in thefurther open units: setting the current unit to a next open unit of thefurther open units; and performing trials for each block of eachstimulus passage in the current unit; if the person passes the currentunit, closing the current unit; else, keeping the current unit open forlater presentation to the person.
 22. The method of claim 8, whereinsaid performing trials in each open unit of the plurality of open unitsfor each open level of the plurality of open levels is performed over aplurality of sessions, and wherein each successive session beginsapproximately where a previous session ends.
 23. The method of claim 22,wherein the sessions occur a specified number times each day, for aspecified number of days.
 24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:performing an initial trial, comprising: demonstrating said presentingthe block, said asking, said presenting the plurality of answers, saidrequiring, and said determining to the person.
 25. The method of claim1, wherein said presenting the block, said asking, said presenting theplurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining are performedvia a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on a display of thecomputing device.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the GUI displaystwo or more of: a student indicator; a time indicator; an initiationbutton, whereby the person invokes presenting a block in a stimuluspassage; a score indicator; and a passage length indicator, graphicallyindicating the position of the current block within the current stimuluspassage.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the GUI further displays amain character, wherein the main character performs said presenting theblock of the stimulus passage.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein themain character is animated.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the maincharacter performs said presenting the block of the stimulus passageaurally and/or textually.
 30. The method of claim 27, wherein the GUIfurther displays one or more secondary characters, wherein the one ormore secondary characters perform said presenting the plurality ofanswers.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the one or more secondarycharacters are animated.
 32. The method of claim 30, wherein the one ormore secondary characters perform said presenting the plurality ofanswers graphically.
 33. The method of claim 1, further comprising: inresponse to said determining, playing a sound indicating the correctnessor incorrectness of the selection.
 34. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: in response to said determining, graphically indicating thecorrectness or incorrectness of the selection.
 35. The method of claim1, further comprising: awarding points based on the correctness of theselected answer.
 36. The method of claim 35, wherein said awardingpoints comprises: incrementing a point total for the person one point ata time for each of the awarded points; playing a sound each time thepoint total is incremented; and displaying each value of the point totalas the point total is incremented.
 37. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: if the correct answer is selected, aurally presenting theselected answer.
 38. The method of claim 1, wherein said requiring theperson to select an answer from the plurality of answers comprisesrequiring the person to perform one or more of: selecting the answerwith a pointing device; selecting a button indicating the answer in theGUI with the pointing device; and pressing one or more keys on akeyboard coupled to the computing device to indicate selection of theanswer.
 39. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting the block ofthe stimulus passage comprises: aurally presenting the block of thestimulus passage via headphones attached to the computing device. 40.The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing said repeating aplurality of times to improve listening comprehension and working memoryskills in the person.
 41. A computer accessible memory medium thatstores program instructions for improving listening comprehension andworking memory skills in a person, wherein the program instructions areexecutable by a processor to perform: providing a stimulus passage setcomprising a plurality of stimulus passages, wherein each stimuluspassage comprises one or more blocks; presenting a block from a stimuluspassage from the stimulus passage set to the person via a computingdevice; asking the person a question regarding the block; presenting aplurality of answers to the person via the computing device, wherein oneof the answers is a correct answer to the question; requiring the personto select an answer from the plurality of answers to answer thequestion; determining if the person selected the correct answer; andrepeating said presenting the block, said asking, said presenting theplurality of answers, said requiring, and said determining for eachblock of each stimulus passage in the stimulus passage set; wherein saidrepeating improves listening comprehension and working memory skills inthe person.
 42. The memory medium of claim 41, wherein the programinstructions are further executable to perform: performing said asking,said presenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and saiddetermining for one or more additional questions regarding the block.43. The memory medium of claim 41, wherein said presenting the blockcomprises: aurally presenting the block; and/or textually presenting theblock; and wherein said asking the question comprises: aurally askingthe question; and/or textually asking the question.
 44. The memorymedium of claim 41, wherein said presenting the plurality of answerscomprises: presenting a picture illustrating each answer.
 45. The memorymedium of claim 41, wherein said presenting the block, said asking, saidpresenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and saiddetermining composes performing a trial for a block; wherein a stimuluspassage comprises a specified sequence of blocks; wherein a unitcomprises a specified set of trials directed to blocks of one or morestimulus passages; where a level comprises a specified set of units; andwherein said repeating said presenting the block, said asking, saidpresenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and saiddetermining for each block of each stimulus passage in the stimuluspassage set comprises: performing trials in each unit of a plurality ofunits for each level of a plurality of levels in a specified order,wherein successive levels increase in difficulty.
 46. The memory mediumof claim 45, wherein an open unit comprises a unit that has not beenpassed; wherein an open level comprises a level that has not beencompleted; and wherein all units are initially open units, wherein alllevels are initially open levels, and wherein said performing trials ineach unit of a plurality of units for each level of a plurality oflevels comprises: performing trials in each open unit of the pluralityof open units for each open level of the plurality of open levels. 47.The memory medium of claim 46, wherein a unit is completed when alltrials in that unit have been performed; wherein passing a unitcomprises successfully performing a specified percentage of trials inthe unit; and wherein a level is completed when all trials in that levelhave been performed.
 48. The memory medium of claim 47, wherein saidperforming trials in each open unit of the plurality of open units foreach open level of the plurality of open levels comprises: setting acurrent level to a first level of the plurality of levels; setting acurrent unit to a first unit of the plurality of units; setting acurrent stimulus passage to a first stimulus passage of the plurality ofstimulus passages; setting a current block to a first block of thecurrent stimulus passage; and performing trials for the current block ofthe current stimulus passage in the current unit at the current level.49. The memory medium of claim 48, wherein said performing trials ineach open unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of theplurality of open levels comprises: if the person fails a block,repeating the block until: the person passes the block; or the personfails the block a specified number of times.
 50. The memory medium ofclaim 49, wherein said performing trials in each open unit of theplurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of openlevels further comprises: if there are more blocks in the currentstimulus passage, incrementing the current block to a next block in thecurrent stimulus passage; and performing trials in the current block;and if there are no more blocks in the stimulus passage, and there aremore stimulus passages in the unit, incrementing the current stimuluspassage to a next stimulus passage in the current unit; setting thecurrent block to a first block in the current stimulus passage; andperforming trials in the current block.
 51. The memory medium of claim50, wherein said performing trials in each open unit of the plurality ofopen units for each open level of the plurality of open levels furthercomprises: if there are no more blocks in the current unit, determiningif the person passes the current unit; if the person fails the currentunit, repeating the current unit until the person passes the currentunit, or the person fails the current unit a specified number of times;keeping the current unit open for later presentation to the person; andif the person passes the current unit, closing the current unit.
 52. Thememory medium of claim 51, wherein said keeping the current unit openfor later presentation to the person comprises: if the person passes thecurrent unit after more than one attempt, keeping the current unit openfor later presentation to the person after all units have beencompleted; otherwise, keeping the current unit open for laterpresentation to the person after completion of the current level. 53.The memory medium of claim 52, wherein said performing trials in eachopen unit of the plurality of open units for each open level of theplurality of open levels further comprises: if there are more open unitsin the current level, incrementing the current unit to a next open unitin the current level; setting the current block to a first block in thecurrent unit; and performing trials in the current block; and if thereare no more units in the current level, incrementing the current levelto a next open level; setting the current unit to a next open unit inthe current level; setting the current block to a first block in thecurrent unit; and performing trials in the current block.
 54. The memorymedium of claim 53, wherein said performing trials in each open unit ofthe plurality of open units for each open level of the plurality of openlevels comprises: if all levels have been completed, and there arefurther open units, for each unit in the further open units: setting thecurrent unit to a next open unit of the further open units; andperforming trials for each block of each stimulus passage in the currentunit; if the person passes the current unit, closing the current unit;else, keeping the current unit open for later presentation to theperson.
 55. The memory medium of claim 46, wherein said performingtrials in each open unit of the plurality of open units for each openlevel of the plurality of open levels is performed over a plurality ofsessions, and wherein each successive session begins approximately wherea previous session ends; and wherein the sessions occur a specifiednumber times each day, for a specified number of days.
 56. The memorymedium of claim 41, wherein said presenting the block, said asking, saidpresenting the plurality of answers, said requiring, and saiddetermining are performed via a graphical user interface (GUI) displayedon a display of the computing device.
 57. The memory medium of claim 56,wherein the GUI further displays a main character, wherein the maincharacter performs said presenting the block of the stimulus passage.58. The memory medium of claim 41, wherein the program instructions arefurther executable to perform: in response to said determining,performing one or more of: playing a sound indicating the correctness orincorrectness of the selection; graphically indicating the correctnessor incorrectness of the selection; and awarding points based on thecorrectness of the selected answer.
 59. The memory medium of claim 41,wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:performing said repeating a plurality of times to improve listeningcomprehension and working memory skills in the person.